Jessica Pegula wipes along Barbora Krejcikova and in US Open Semi -Final

Jessica Pegula continues to draw the limits of her career in New York again. The 31-year-old American wiped the last four of the US Open on Tuesday with a 6-3, 6-3 dismissal from Barbora Krejcikova and was the first woman to reach back-to-back semi-finals here without dropping a set since Serena Williams stuck together between 2011 and 2014.

It was a implementation of cool authority, less built on fireworks than on persistence and precision. Pegula only needed 86 minutes to subdue her opponent, whose serve was collapsed under pressure with seven double errors and a first percentage barely above 40%. Where Krejcikova was unraveled, Pegula remained the course and pulled energy from an almost full Arthur Ashe Stadium that felt that they were watching a home candidate at Momentum.

The match started with Krejcikova missed an overhead and donating her first double mistake to drop serve at Love. Pegula extended her lead to 4-2, but stumbled when she served too much first, allowing Krejcikova to break. The delay was fleeting. Another double error of the Czech in the next game opened the door and Pegula kicked him down, broke immediately and consolidated to fell the opening set in 38 minutes. Time and time again, Krejcikova’s whimsical throw left her, while Pegula punished the second delivery with fresh, flat returns.

The problems of the Czech problems in the second set. She was broken with love to open, mixing successive double errors, while Pegula again voted her authority. The fourth seed was not impeccable and twice double mistakes in a single match at 2-2 and was confronted with a breaking point but she stood herself with a burning backhand-passing winner before she stopped 3-1. When Krejcikova sprayed a forehand wide in the next game to do again, Pegula had the insurance break she needed. Although she has given up one of them briefly, the American’s control was never in real doubt. She served at 5-3 before the game and closed it at her second match point when the Forehand of Krejcikova sailed beyond the basic line.

“I played tennis really well,” Pegula said afterwards. “I feel that I just feel very comfortable. We have all seen what she did against Taylor [Townsend]So I was happy that we are ready. ‘It was a neat encapsulation of her campaign to date: stable, controlled and efficient.

The contrast with her summer form was striking. Pegula had suffered early outputs in Montreal and Cincinnati after a setback in the first round in Wimbledon, which was cut the week before the New York tournament in New York and left the terrain in frustration. She later credited a reset to help her throw the tension off.

“I went and did an escape room with my friends and had two drinks and said,” I just have to chill, “she said.” It is crazy to look now and think that I really feel at ease to play on large courts with the craziest bustle against the big players. Ten years ago I never thought I would be good at this, but I think I am. “

Long defined by her large quarter-final frustration-she was short of her first six performances at that stage Pegula has now reached successive semi-finals in New York, proof that last year’s breakthrough was not out of a bit.

The 29-year-old Krejcikova, ranked no. 62 only an eternal danger, leaves with credit after a run with a three-set victory over Emma Navarro and an extraordinary escape against Townsend, where she saved eight match points. But those efforts caught up with her. She had spent more than eight hours on the field before Tuesday and lacked the legs to maintain meetings against the metronomic efficiency of Pegula. For a player who has lifted large championships at Roland Garros and Wimbledon – in addition to 10 doublesitles – it was a reminder that only pedigree cannot be reached about a failing Serve.

Pegula, on the other hand, finds her step in what is one of her best seasons. She has already demanded three titles on three surfaces and joined Aryna Sabalenka as the only players who do this, and her 42 victories this year place her alongside Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina as the most productive winners of the Tour. The statistics and the Poise suggest that she is ready to test herself again at the business end of a major.

She will then be confronted with the World No 1 Sabalenka or Marketa Vondrousova, the Wimbledon champion of 2023 that is not sown here, for a place in the final of Saturday. Both represent discouraging obstacles, but Pegula has rarely looked more at their leisure with the scale of the occasion.