Tennis

Jessica Pegula stuns Iga Swiatek as Jannik Sinner sets up Jack Draper semi-final

US Open: Pegula reaches her first Grand Slam semi-final at the seventh attempt

Jessica Pegula of the United States celebrates after defeating Iga Swiatek of Poland in their quarter-final match at the US Open in New York. Photograph: Michelle V Agins/New York Times
Tumaini Carayol at Flushing Meadows
Thu Sept 05 2024 - 14:34

At the end of the final Grand Slam tournament of her breakthrough 2022 season, Jessica Pegula found herself in a familiar, painful position. She had reached the quarter-finals at three of the four majors that year, but on each occasion she was defeated by the top seed.

After another loss to Iga Swiatek at the US Open, Pegula arrived at her press conference sipping a can of beer. “I’m trying to pee for doping,” she said. “Although it does help ease the loss.”

That moment, which immediately went viral, was a perfect example of the good-natured way that Pegula has handled one of the most frustrating struggles of her career – an inability to reach a Grand Slam semi-final. It would take two more years and a total of six painful quarter-final defeats before she achieved her goal. Finally, in a perfect full-circle moment, Pegula reached her first career Grand Slam semi-final at the US Open by toppling Swiatek, the world No 1, 6-2, 6-4.

“I’ve [lost] so many freaking times, I just kept losing,” she said afterwards. “But to great players – to girls who went on and won the tournament. I know everyone kept asking me about [winning a quarter-final] but I was like: ‘I don’t know what else to do, I just need to get there again and win the match.’ Thank God I was able to do it and finally, finally I can say I am a semi-finalist.”

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In the men’s draw, Jannik Sinner, the top seed, is the only Grand Slam champion remaining after he set up a semi-final with Britain’s Jack Draper by outplaying Daniil Medvedev 6-2, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 in a turbulent tussle that finished just before midnight in New York.

By defeating the world No 1, sixth-seeded Pegula joins her compatriots Emma Navarro, Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe in the semi-finals. This is the first time that multiple US players have reached the semis in both the women’s and men’s US Open draws since 2003.

Pegula will next face the unseeded Czech Karolína Muchová, who reached semi-finals last year before undergoing wrist surgery at the beginning of this season. Muchová defeated Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-1, 6-4 earlier on Thursday.

Pegula played a composed, solid match, showing her tactical nous by cutting off Swiatek’s angles by smothering the Pole with deep, flat central groundstrokes and patiently waiting for her moments to attack. She also moved brilliantly, soaking up Swiatek’s first strike well.

Jannik Sinner of Italy returns to Daniil Medvedev of Russia during their quarter-final match at the US Open. Photograph: Hiroko Masuike/New York Times

While Pegula played a brilliant match and held her nerve at the end, it was an atrocious performance from Swiatek, who struggled badly with her serve and could not find her timing from the very beginning. She finished a disappointing night with her 41st unforced error of the night.

“I’ve had many tournaments where I didn’t serve well and I managed to win anyway,” she said. “But I probably didn’t find the right solution because I couldn’t push with my serve. Also, I wasn’t that solid from the baseline to have a back-up like that. You’re not going to win if you make so many mistakes, and I made those. It’s on me.”

Despite how wide open the men’s draw has been with the early exits of Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, that openness did not affect the top quarter, where the last two remaining major champions battled for a third time at the Grand Slams this year. After Sinner recovered from two sets down to win his first Grand Slam title over Medvedev at the Australian Open, Medvedev exacted his revenge with a five set win in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon.

This encounter was far less dramatic. Sinner flitted out of the blocks in the first set, overpowering Medvedev with his enormous pace and weight of shot off both groundstrokes as his defence also made it difficult for Medvedev to consistently put the ball past him. After Sinner rolled through the opening set, the match swung wildly in the other direction as Medvedev played focused tennis and Sinner’s intensity sharply dropped. Then it swung back again.

Across the four sets, as the momentum swung back and forth, the combined force of Sinner’s devastating groundstrokes and defence were too much for Medvedev, who generally played below par in a match that required his very best tennis. Medvedev departed Arthur Ashe Stadium having struck 57 unforced errors and he was well beaten by the No 1 player.

“It was very tough,” said Sinner. “We know each other quite well, we played in Australia and London. We knew it was going to be very physical. It was strange the first two sets, because who ever got the first break rolled, but I’m really happy.”

Sinner has now reached the semi-finals of all four Grand Slam tournaments in his career; he is the fourth active player and the only man under 35 to do so after Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Marin Cilic. He has also reached the semi-finals at three of the four majors this year.

An interesting battle with Draper comes next. The pair are both 22, they faced each other as juniors and have become good friends on the ATP Tour. They recently played doubles together at the Canadian Open.

“We know each other very well,” Sinner said. “We are good friends off the court so it’s going to be a tough one. He’s playing incredible, he hasn’t lost one set yet so he’s playing very, very good. So let’s see what’s coming. I’m just happy to be in the semis and let’s see who can play better in a couple of days.”