No. 4 Seed Jessica Pegula, the 2024 US Open Runner-Up, went on for a second consecutive year to the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows by fellow American Ann Li with 6-1, 6-2 in just 54 minutes to be beat on Sunday.
Pegula, who opened the day session in Arthur Ashe Stadium, did not drop a set this year and was only held on the field for more than 1 hour, 15 minutes.
The three games she dropped against Li were her least in an American open match for her career. Due to four rounds, Pegula has only dropped 17 games, her least on the way to one of her eight large quarter -final performances.
“Probably the best match, to be honest, I have played since, such as Wimbledon, I feel from the start to the end. So that was encouraging,” said the Buffalo resident. “I just hit the ball, did everything well, performed my strategy very well and came through quite quickly.”
Pegula was 0-6 in the quarterfinals of Grand Slam before he made it up in that round Iga Swiatek last year. She reached the final, where was defeated by Aryna Sabalenka. But she wasn’t sure if her tennis was ready for a follow-up when she returned to New York.
She had lost four of her previous six singles matches that came in the US Open and said she played so badly while practicing Sabalenka a few days before the tournament she stopped early, instead for an escape room with a few friends and a few drinks.
Since then it has certainly improved.
“Like I said, I didn’t feel my best on the field, so to come back and make another quarter finals, here is something that I am certainly proud of,” Pegula said. “Of course I want to go on and do more and win the tournament, but I just have a personal kind of goal level, I am happy with the way I have been able to play a bit of my tennis in recent weeks.”
The 58th Rangli, one of the five American women who reached the round of 16, was the highest ranked player who confronted Pegula in the tournament, but the 25-year-old was overwhelmed in her first performance in the round of 16 in a major. Pegula broke her all four times in the first set of 25 minutes and she only had five winners against 19 casual mistakes in the game.
Pegula excelled in tournaments in her home country, with her 85 WTA competition wins on American soil since the beginning of 2020 the most by every player on the ladies tour.
She will be confronted opposite Barbora Krejcikova on Tuesday after the dual Grand SLAM champion of eight match points had fought in a second set that ended with a tiebreak of 25 minutes and Townsend 1-6, 7-6 (13), 6-3 defeated.
Townsend tried to reach her first quarter final in her 31st Grand Slam performance.
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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