Jessica Pegula is back in the quarterfinals at the US Open after a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Diana Shnaider on Monday, September 2, her seventh trip to that round at a Grand Slam tournament. Now comes the hard part: Pegula is 0-6 in major quarterfinals over her career – and this next one will come against No. 1 Iga Swiatek.
The No. 6-seeded Pegula, an American whose parents own the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, is on quite a run at the moment, having won 13 of her past 14 matches, all on hard courts. That included her second consecutive title in Canada and an appearance in the final at the Cincinnati Open, where she lost to No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka.
“I feel like there’s been more pressure this year, because I did so well coming into this tournament,” said the 30-year-old Pegula, the oldest woman left in the field. “I want to keep working my way and hopefully bringing my best tennis for the later rounds this time.”
Swiatek was tied at 4-all with No. 16 Liudmila Samsonova on Monday night before grabbing seven straight games en route to winning 6-4, 6-1. When Swiatek captured the 2022 US Open for one of her five Grand Slam titles, she eliminated Pegula in the quarterfinals. Indeed, half of Pegula’s six quarterfinal exits at Slams came against a No. 1 player – Swiatek twice and Ash Barty once.
Also returning to the quarterfinals was Karolina Muchova, a 6-3, 6-3 winner over No. 5 Jasmine Paolini, the runner-up at the French Open and Wimbledon this season. Muchova enjoyed a breakthrough in 2023, getting to the final in Paris and the semifinals in New York, before needing surgery on her right wrist in October, sidelining her for 10 months. “This was my worst and most serious injury, I would say. But, I mean, I love the sport, so in my head, I was like, ‘I will do everything I could to (get) better and try.’ And here I am today,” said Muchova, whose US Open ended a year ago with a loss to eventual champion Coco Gauff. “I’m just a really happy kid now.” Gauff was seeded No. 3 this year and was eliminated Sunday by No. 13 Emma Navarro.
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In men’s action Monday, No. 25 Jack Draper became the first British man to reach the quarterfinals in New York since the recently retired Andy Murray did it in 2016. Draper, who exited in the fourth round a year ago, will appear in his first Slam quarterfinal thanks to a 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 win against unseeded Tomas Machac. “I obviously miss Andy. Shoutout to Andy. What an unbelievable career the guy’s had. Just an icon of the game. I miss him in the changing rooms. I miss being next to his stinky shoes and all his stinky clothes,” said Draper, who’ll take on No. 10 Alex de Minaur or Jordan Thompson, two Australians scheduled to play each other Monday. “Andy’s a legend, and if I have half the career he had, then I’ll be a happy man.”
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No. 5 Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 champion who is the only past men’s winner still in the bracket, overwhelmed beat Nuno Borges 6-0, 6-1, 6-3 in a victory delayed for six minutes – along with every other match going on at the time – because of a fire alarm in the building that houses the electronic line-calling system. Medvedev’s quarterfinal opponent will be No. 1 Jannik Sinner or No. 14 Tommy Paul.
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