Jessica Pegula made light work by Cristina Bucsa in 54 minutes and will meet Barbora Krejcikova in the US Open quarterfinals, which save 8 match points to bridge Taylor Townsend, eventually won 4 minutes after a 3-hour thrilling battle.
She disguises her photos so well [Barbora Krejcikova]. She’s really cunning. She changes the direction of the ball. She can serve well. It feels a bit this year, she is a bit, doing what she has done in the past, when she is deep away. She manages the three sets very well, and wins and, a bit, sorting out ways to win. Her game is very unorthodox. That is why she has defeated many top players if she plays well. It is possible, yes, frustrating, because you are not really sure what to expect. There are not many patterns. Jessica Pegula
Krejcikova has made a bit of a name for herself, who regularly wriggles from tight places, and she did it again on Sunday for great fashion with home favorite Townsend, who herself built a considerable reputation here in New York.
Townsend, who was a point shy for the US Open quarterfinals at 8 times against the resilient Krejcikova, has been the radiant star of the show, with brilliant versions and her heated row with Jelena Ostapenko ensuring that her story was headline news.
The World No 1 Doubles player in the world, however, was not expected to illuminate the singles of the US Open Ladies as she did, making them the last 16, where she was confronted with a former top player of the top, which was transferred to a 2-way Singles Grand Slam champion after lifting 10 big trophies in double.
The 29-year-old from the Czech Republic is no stranger to the big stage and is known for its tenacity when the chips are down.
Krejcikova followed a set and a break and saved those 8 match points in an extraordinary way to force a third set, and with the vast majority of the 14,000 crammed in Louis Armstrong Stadium that pulled against her, the Czech the Czech dedicated the match, 1-6, and 13) 6-6.
“I mean, what a match,” said a breathless Krejcikova in her interview on the field. “What a match. Only four months ago I was outside the field and couldn’t play. I had a huge pain in my back and didn’t know if I would ever play anymore.
“It’s a huge privilege to be here.”
22 minutes after the game, no one would have predicted that Krejcikova could win, because Townsend 6 of the first 7 games and the first set won, although the second one ran an exciting 98 minutes and contained 8 match points, none of them at 20
Taylor Townsend was surpassed by the resilient Barbora Krejcikova in the 4th round for a full home crowd at Louis Armstrong Stadium on day 8 of the US Open
© Matthew Stockman/Getty images
Krejcikova hit 5 winners and forced 2 mistakes in her last strike, where Townsend made her lonely casual mistake of the entire tiebreak to the other chance.
The first came with Krejcikova who served on 4-5, 30-40, and the Czech produced a 101-MPH first serve that pulled Townsend wide, causing her space to hit a forehand winner to save it.
The second came with Krejcikova who served on 3/6 in the tiebreak, and Townsend broke back a big first serve-back, which the Czech encouraged with an inside-out Forehand winner.
The third was when Krejcikova served on 4/6, and this time her wide delivery allowed her to go off the line with a forehand shot shot, so that Townsend’s attempt was passed on the net, registered as a forced mistake.
The fourth came when the left -handed American served on 6/5, and Krejcikova’s deep backhand return through the middle brought her control over the point, and 2 shots later Townsend made a casual mistake with her attempt to go down, which she sent widely.
Match Point No 5 saw Krejcikova serve on 6/7, and a 7-shot Rally ended in what the crowd thought was a victory for Townsend, but then after seeing the repetition that the Backhand of the Czech had hit the outside of the line for a winner.
With Krejcikova who served on 10/11, Match Point No 6 was stored when, at the end of an 11-shot rally, the Czech fired a Down-Line Backhand-Madderingschot in which Townsend stretched for a floating backhand slack that came with a sturdy, but krejcikova to the back of the Waigov. to go.
Townsend served on 12/11 and saw her 7th match Point evaporate when Krejcikova hit an inside-out Forehand winner of her weak second delivery.
Finally, Match Point No 8 came with Krejcikova who served on 12/13 when Townsend’s Forehand came back from a first serve drove long, making the Czech her 4th set point with a pounding overhead, causing the half -hour tiebreak to end.
“Absolutely, on all those match points I was just whole … brave, but also on certain points,” Krejickova told the media later. “Because we had great rallies and I stood opposite them when I served when I returned.”
2-way Grand SLAM champion Barbora Krejcikova pushed her advantage against Taylor Townsend after 3 hours home and founded a quarter-final meeting with Jessica Pegula
© Matthew Stockman/Getty images
The third set sailed on serve until the 6th game, when Krejcikova claimed herself with a swinging backhand volley winner to get 4-2, so Townend put it on the back for the first time in the game.
However, the American immediately bounced back with a deep backhand winner to come back to Serve, before the final break came with Townsend with 3-4, when Krejcikova made a running forehand who brought her 2 break chances, and a launch of backhand return winner knew a game point for Towning.
Two sealed balls later from Townsend brought the score to 5-3 and Krejcikova served it.
Krejcikova has a 2-1 head-to-head benefit from Pegula and wins their most recent match 6-3 6-3 in last year’s WTA Finals in Riyad, and the American World No 4 knows that she will be a dangerous opponent in the quarterfinals.
“She disguises her shots so well,” she said about Krejcikova. “She’s really cunning. She changes the direction of the ball. She can serve well.
“It feels a bit this year like, she is, a bit, does what she has done in the past, when she has gone deep. She manages the three sets very well and wins and, a little, sorting out ways to win.
“Her game is very unorthodox. That is why she has defeated many top players if she plays well. It is possible, yes, you frustrate, because you are not really sure what to expect. There are not many patterns.”
Jessica Pegula pushes on Sunday past colleague -Marican Ann Li in 54 minutes at Arthur Ashe Stadium
© Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty images
Earlier in the day, in her 3rd US Open Quarter final, co-American Ann Li, 6-1 6-2, Pegula was rejected in Arthur Ashe Stadium, where she reached her first Grand Slam final last year and fell to Aryna Sabalenka.
Pegula only needs 54 minutes, past the 25-year-old LI, who played in her first 4th round match at a large championship and fell against the top 10 competition on 1-9.
Because of her 3 games, Pegula broke her opponents almost 70% of the time, 18/26, and she maintained that aggressive pace against Li, who reached the Cleveland final earlier this month.
The 31-year-old sprinted to a lead in the opening set when she set a backhand service return winner on the line.
While aggressively return Li helped to break back for 1-3, Pegula dominated from there and took the opening set in 25 minutes.
In the second, Pegula Li never left in the game and ended up by winning almost double the amount of points like Li, 56 to 29, while also won 80% of her net points, 12-15.
“I felt really comfortable to go into today. I felt that I saw the ball and came in at the right times,” Pegula said later. “It doesn’t always feel that good, but I felt that I started very well today and I just wanted to keep doing that until the very last competition.
“Now in another fifteen minutes is crazy because I just didn’t play so well, but I think I knew it, because I did it here before, and not just last year, but in the past, that I can always find a way to find out and play some good tennis here.
“So I really just tried to take the good energy and the good vibes from last year until this year.”
Pegula’s only victory against Krejcikova In their 3 previous meetings came on the Australian Open 2023, and she will be looking for another on Tuesday, when they play for a place in the last 4.
World No 4 and finalist Jessica Pegula from last year Ann Li sent to reach the last 8 of the US Open for the third time, where she will meet Barbora Krejcikova
© Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty images
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