Pegula stuns Swiatek to reach first grand slam semis

No.6 Jessica Pegula advanced to her first major semifinal after ousting No.1 Iga Swiatek at the US Open on Wednesday night.

The 30-year-old American who is in great form, has now won 14 of her past 15 matches after winning her second title of the season last month at the National Bank Open in Toronto and finishing as runner-up at the Cincinnati Open.

She joins Emma Navarro to put two Americans in the US Open semifinals for the second consecutive year.

“I would like to say I’m so happy that you guys cannot ask me about making it to the semis,” Pegula said at the start of her press conference. “It wasn’t even a me thing. It was more people asking me. I’m really happy to be through to the semifinals.

The victory is Pegula’s fourth career win over Swiatek and first since the 2023 Omnium Banque Nationale. She joins Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina and Barbora Krejcikova as the only players to notch four wins over the Pole.

“I thought I played a really clean match, served pretty well, returned well,” Pegula said. “I feel like I didn’t really do anything that bad, and was able to kind of jump on her really early and I think frustrate her, and was able to keep my level even when she picked it up in the second set.”

Pegula will face last year’s semifinalist Karolina Muchova for a spot in her first major final. Muchova returned to the semifinals after defeating Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-1, 6-4 earlier in the day.