World No 1 Iga Swiatek reached her first semifinal at Flushing Meadows by pulling out a 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over Jessica Pegula
World No 1 Iga Swiatek reached her first semifinal at Flushing Meadows by pulling out a 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over Jessica Pegula
Iga Swiatek dropped four points in a row in her U. S. Open quarterfinal against Jessica Pegula by missing shots, some wildly. So with Pegula up by a break at 3-2 and serving at 30-love, Swiatek walked over to the sideline in the middle of a game to swap out her white racket for another one.
The Arthur Ashe Stadium roof was open, the 70-degree air was as cool and dry as it’s been during a hot, humid tournament, and Swiatek figured maybe she should try a tighter string tension to see whether that would help control the ball a little more.
Whether that actually did the trick, or simply put Swiatek’s mind at ease, the move certainly swung the direction of the match. The No. 1-ranked Swiatek grabbed 14 of the next 15 points and, while closing things out was not easy, she reached her first semifinal at Flushing Meadows by pulling out a 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over Pegula.
“I don’t know if it actually was the key or something,” Swiatek said after a match filled with a combined 13 breaks of serve, 10 in the second set alone. “For sure, I wasn’t thinking about the strings (anymore), and I just focused on the right stuff after the change.”
When play resumed, Swiatek popped up a short return that floated toward Pegula, who rushed a backhand swinging volley that landed out. That was followed by three forehand errors in a row by the No. 8 Pegula, the highest-ranked American player.
“I started missing everything for literally the rest of the set,” Pegula said between sips from a can of Heineken. “It was definitely a huge momentum change. I think it helped her a lot. So it was a good move by her…. I was just going for too much. The games kind of flew by.”
Swiatek vs Sabalenka in semifinal
Swiatek will face No. 6 seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in Thursday’s semifinals. The other women’s semifinal is No. 5 Ons Jabeur against No. 17 Caroline Garcia, who eliminated 18-year-old American Coco Gauff on Tuesday.
Swiatek, a 21-year-old from Poland who won the French Open in 2020 and this June, twice failed to serve out the victory Wednesday, at 5-4 and 6-5 in the second set. But she was better in the tiebreaker, and when Pegula missed a backhand to close the contest, Swiatek ran toward her guest box,…
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