BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Jessica Pegula made American tennis history in reaching her first semifinal at a Grand Slam tennis tournament.
Pegula advanced to the U.S. Open semifinals on Wednesday night with her 6-2, 6-4 victory against world No. 1 player Iga Swiatek at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing Meadows.
In doing so at age 30, the Buffalonian became the oldest American woman to reach her first semifinal of a major tournament after losing in her previous six Grand Slam quarterfinals.
“Finally, I can say ‘semifinalist!’” Pegula told the crowd.
“I knew I could do it,” she added.
Pegula will next face Karolina Muchova at 8:30 p.m. Thursday in the semifinals.
Playing in her 23rd major tournament, Pegula was trying to avoid becoming the first player to go 0-7 in Slam quarterfinals.
Swiatek served poorly in the first set and her forehand was a real problem, with 22 of her 41 unforced errors coming on that side. Pegula made only 22 unforced errors in all and used terrific defense to keep forcing Swiatek to hit an extra shot.
The No. 6-seeded Pegula, a 30-year-old American, has won 14 of her past 15 matches and will make her debut appearance in the semifinals of a Slam on Thursday against unseeded Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic.
Pegula repeatedly did what seemed nearly impossible to do lately against Swiatek, who counts the 2022 U.S. Open among her five Grand Slam titles and has led the WTA rankings for most of the past 2 1/2 years: break her serve.
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Jonah Bronstein joined the WIVB squad in 2022 as a digital sports reporter. The Buffalonian has covered the Bills, Sabres, Bandits, Bisons, colleges, high schools and other notable sporting events in Western New York since 2005, for publications including The Associated Press, The Buffalo News, and Niagara Gazette. Read more of his work here.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.