Pegula continues stunning run, reach second week at the US Open

Jessica Pegula’s scintillating summer continued on Saturday with a trip to the fourth round at her home Grand Slam, the US Open.

The 30-year-old American and New York native Pegula swept past rising Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6-3, 6-3 under the closed roof of Arthur Ashe Stadium.

In their first meeting, Pegula took 1 hour and 10 minutes to defeat 74th-ranked Bouzas Maneiro and make her third straight Round of 16 at the US Open. It is her first Round of 16 showing at any Grand Slam event this year.

Pegula successfully defended her WTA 1000 National Bank Open title, triumphing in Toronto this year after claiming the crown in Montreal last year.

Pegula made a second straight WTA 1000 final the next week in Cincinnati before suffering her only loss of the hard-court swing thus far, to No.2 Aryna Sabalenka. She next faces Diana Shnaider who ousted Sara Errani 6-2, 6-2 earlier.

Elsewhere, No.5 seed Jasmine Paolini has become one of only two players to make the second week of every Grand Slam in 2024 after defeating Yulia Putintseva 6-3, 6-4 in the US Open third round.

Paolini is also the only Italian player in the Open Era to have reached the second week of each Slam in a single season. She will next face 2023 US Open semifinalist Karolina Muchova, who defeated Anastasia Potapova 6-4, 6-2; Muchova has won all three of their previous encounters, including in 2018 US Open qualifying, but they have not played since January 2021.

Karolina Muchova advanced to the Round of 16 with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Anastasia Potapova. It was over in 73 minutes, and it’s the first time in a year that Muchova has put together three consecutive hard-court wins.

On Monday, she’ll next meet No.5 Jasmine Paolini, who ousted No.30 Yulia Putintseva.