At US Open, Jessica Pegula ousts world No. 1 Iga Swiatek to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal

NEW YORK—This January, Jessica Pegula led Katie Boulter by a set and a double break in Perth. She lost the match.

Two months later, in San Diego, Pegula led Marta Kostyuk 5-1 in the first set. She lost the match in straight sets.

So when Pegula stepped up to serve Wednesday night in the US Open quarterfinals, leading world No. 1 Iga Swiatek by a double break in the first set at 5-2, nothing was guaranteed. Not even after her torrid stretch of play that saw her win 13 of her last 14 matches. Not even with the Pole leaking errors on the other side of the net. And especially not given her history at this stage of Grand Slam tournaments: 0-6 in the elite eight, including a loss to Swiatek in this very position two years ago.

Jessica Pegula can now move past all of that.

“I’ve been so many freaking times, I just kept losing,” Pegula said about her quarterfinal hex. “But to great players, I mean to girls that went on to win the tournament.”

It must have felt good to hold that service game at 15, thereby collecting the opener and preventing her uber-accomplished opponent from generating valuable momentum. It didn’t matter that Swiatek donated Pegula three points with unforced errors—her 17^th, 18^th and 19^th of a lopsided set—this was her accomplishment.

It must have felt even better to, about 45 minutes later, reach her first Grand Slam semifinal, and in the process justify her entire up-and-down season, one marked with sizable change.

“I know everyone keeps asking me about it, but I was like, I don’t know what else to do, I just need to get there again and, like, win the match,” said Pegula, after being asked about it for one of the last times. “So thank God I was able to do it—and finally, FINALLY I can say I’m a semifinalist.”

Playing with a level of aggression that Swiatek’s court coverage demands, and with the accuracy that her low-margin groundstrokes require, Pegula found success from the onset. In the second set, she traded breaks with Swiatek, but regained the lead in a demanding 3-3 game that saw the Buffalonian convert her third break-point chance.

The capacity crowd, sensing something significant at the end of the first set and even moreso now, began building its collective voice to a crescendo.

Perhaps sensing the moment herself, Pegula made errors at 15-30 and 30-30 with Swiatek serving at 3-5. She would have to serve out the match herself.

Pegula reached 40-0. Two Swiatek winners followed. Nothing was guaranteed.

A “65 mile-per-hour second serve” came off Pegula’s Yonex at 40-30.

“Ooh, I was tight,” recalled Pegula.

But no matter. Seconds later, Pegula celebrated her 6-2, 6-4 win with thousands of American fans inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, and thousands more watching at the other side of New York state, who have long wanted to see her break through. In defeating the No. 1 player in the world—who surrendered just a single game to Pegula the last time they played, in the WTA Finals championship match—it may have all been worth the wait.

“Thank you to the crowd,” said Pegula. “You guys carried me through for sure.”

The fans certainly helped, as did Swiatek, who made 41 unforced errors and struck just 12 winners, the same count as Pegula. But the relentless 30-year-old translated those factors into results. She broke serve four times on eight chances, and has added a US Open semifinal to a summer hard-court stretch that includes a title in Toronto and a runner-up finish in Cincinnati.

“To do it primetime, Ashe, against the No. 1 player in the world, it’s crazy—but I knew I could do it, I just had to execute my game and not get frustrated,” said Pegula. “I was able to take advantage of some things she wasn’t doing well very early.”

Pegula’s collapses against Boulter and Kostyuk seem like epochs ago. She moved on from longtime coach David Witt (whose new player, Frances Tiafoe, remains alive in the men’s draw) after the Australian swing of tournaments, but it took time for her to resemble the Top 5 player she was.

“After Australia, I was not okay,” said Pegula to TENNIS.com in her post-match press conference. “I was burnt out. I was tired. I got sick, like, two or three times in that span. I think I was just really run down, and my immune system was kind of shot, whether it’s from accumulation of stress over the last couple of years and traveling and all the stuff.

“So I kind of just, like, readjusted, tried to take care of my body a little bit better, and kind of get myself back to feeling good.”

It hasn’t been perfect since, with stops and starts, injuries and a forgettable Olympic Games. But as Pegula put things, it may have taken all of that struggle and inward questioning to mold her into the title contender she is now.

“I think by the time I got injured, I think I was ready to go. I think once I reset and kind of got back to normal, getting injured then just made me more hungry. I was like, okay, this sucks. I want to be playing, I’m ready.

“So I think, in a weird way, it all worked out and it helped.”