US Open: Jessica Pegula upsets No. 1 Iga Swiatek to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal
NEW YORK (AP) — Jessica Pegula pulled off a major upset of Iga Swiatek at the U.S. Open, beating the No. 1-ranked woman 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday night to win a Grand Slam quarterfinal for the first time on her seventh try.
Swiatek served poorly in the first set and her forehand was a real problem, with 22 of her 41 unforced errors coming on that side. Pegula used terrific defense to keep forcing Swiatek to hit an extra shot.
The No. 6-seeded Pegula, a 30-year-old American, has won 14 of her past 15 matches and will make her debut appearance in the semifinals of a Slam on Thursday against unseeded Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic.
Pegula repeatedly did what seemed nearly impossible to do lately against Swiatek, who counts the 2022 U.S. Open among her five Grand Slam titles and has led the WTA rankings for most of the past 2 1/2 years: break her serve.