At the end of the final Grand Slam tournament of her breakthrough 2022 season, Jessica Pegula found herself in a familiar, painful position. She had reached the quarterfinals of three of the four majors that year, only to be defeated by the top favorite each time. After another defeat to Iga Swiatek at the US Open, Pegula arrived at her press conference with a can of beer in her hand. “I’m trying to pee against doping,” she said. “Although it does help to soften the loss.”
That moment, which went viral, was a perfect example of the kindhearted way Pegula handled one of the most frustrating struggles of her career: the inability to reach a Grand Slam semifinal. It would take two more years and a total of six painful quarterfinal defeats before she achieved her goal. Finally, in a perfect moment to come full circle, Pegula reached her first Grand Slam semifinal at the US Open, defeating World No. 1 Swiatek 6-2, 6-4.
“I have [lost] so many times, I kept losing,” she said afterward. “But to great players – to girls who went on and won the tournament. I know everyone kept asking me about [winning a quarter-final] but I thought, ‘I don’t know what else to do, I just have to go back there and win the competition.’ Luckily, I did and finally, finally I can say that I am a semi-finalist.”
In the men’s event, top-seeded Jannik Sinner is the only remaining Grand Slam champion. He reached the semi-finals against Jack Draper of Great Britain by beating Daniil Medvedev 6-2, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 in a turbulent battle that ended just before midnight in New York.
By beating the world No. 1, the sixth-seeded Pegula joins fellow American Emma Navarro, Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe in the semifinals. This is the first time since 2003 that multiple American players have reached the semifinals in both the women’s and men’s draws of the US Open. Pegula will now face unseeded Karolína Muchová, who reached the semifinals last year before undergoing wrist surgery earlier this season. Muchová defeated Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-1, 6-4 earlier on Thursday.
Pegula played a controlled, solid game, showing her tactical flair by cutting off Swiatek’s corners by smothering the Pole with deep, flat central ground strokes and patiently waiting for her moments to attack. She also moved brilliantly, absorbing Swiatek’s first blow well.
While Pegula played a brilliant match and held her nerve at the end, it was a terrible performance from Swiatek who struggled with her serve and couldn’t find her timing from the start. She ended a disappointing evening with her 41st unforced error of the night.
“I’ve had a lot of tournaments where I didn’t serve well and I still won,” she said. “But I probably didn’t find the right solution because I couldn’t push with my serve. Also, I wasn’t solid enough from the baseline to have that backup. You’re not going to win if you make that many mistakes, and I made them. It’s my fault.”
Despite how wide open the men’s draw has been with the early eliminations of Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, that openness has had no effect on the top quarter, where the last two remaining major champions are competing for the third time at this year’s Grand Slams. After Sinner recovered from two sets down to win his first Grand Slam title from Medvedev at the Australian Open, Medvedev got his revenge with a five-set victory in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon.
This encounter was far less dramatic. Sinner shot out of the blocks in the first set, overwhelming Medvedev with his sheer pace and the weight of his shot from both groundstrokes, while his defense also made it difficult for Medvedev to consistently play the ball past him. After Sinner cruised through the opening set, the match swung wildly in the other direction as Medvedev played focused tennis and Sinner’s intensity dropped sharply. Then it swung again.
In the four sets, as the momentum swung back and forth, the combined power of Sinner’s devastating groundstrokes and defense proved too much for Medvedev, who generally underperformed in a match that demanded his very best tennis. Medvedev left Arthur Ashe Stadium with 57 unforced errors and was comprehensively defeated by the No. 1 player.
“It was really tough,” Sinner said. “We know each other pretty well, we’ve played in Australia and London. We knew it was going to be really physical. The first two sets were weird because whoever got the first break rolled, but I’m really happy.”
Sinner has now reached the semi-finals of all four Grand Slam tournaments in his career; he is the fourth active player and the only man under 35 to do so after Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Marin Cilic. He has also reached the semi-finals of three of the four majors this year.
Then comes an interesting battle with Draper. The two are both 22, they faced each other as juniors and have become good friends on the ATP tour. They recently played doubles together at the Canadian Open.
“We know each other very well,” Sinner said. “We’re good friends off the court, so it’s going to be tough. He’s playing unbelievable, he hasn’t lost a set yet, so he’s playing very, very well. Let’s see what happens. I’m just happy to be in the semis and let’s see who can play better in a couple of days.”