Jessica Pegula ousts No. 1 Iga Swiatek to reach US Open semis

New York Jessica Pula pulled off a major upset of IgA swotch at the US Open beating the number one ranked woman 6 to2 6 to four on Wednesday night to win a grand slam quarterfinal for the first time on her 7th try there have been so many freaking times and I just kept losing pugula told the crowd I know everyone keeps asking me about it but I was like I don't know what else to do I just need to get there again and like win the match so thank God I was able to do it and finally finally I can say semifinalist her win guarantees the US Open will feature multiple American men and women in the semi-final round the first time that has happened since 2003 Andre Agassi and Andy rodic Lindsay Davenport and Jennifer capriotti the number six seated p aula a 30-year-old American has won 14 of her past 15 matches and will make her debut appearance in the semi finals of a slamon Thursday against unseated kolina muchova of the Czech Republic both muchova and Pula have yet to drop a set the first time that has been done by multiple women at this stage of the tournament since 2014 there were three that year Serena Williams pong shuai and narina macova I know she has a lot of experience going deep in slams pugula said about muchova whom she defeated at the Cincinnati open last month I'll worry about that maybe when I wake up in the morning the other women's match Thursday also will feature an American making her major semi-final debut no 13 Emma Navaro against no two Arina sabalenka who has won the past two Australian Open titles sabalenka lost to Coco gal in the 2023 Final in New York Navaro ended gal's title defense in the fourth round there are also two Americans in the men's semifinals but they'll face each other no 12 Taylor Fritz takes on number 20 Francis tifo on Friday the lopsided nature of pula's win was surprising but she believed this day would come I knew I could do it I just had to go out and execute my game and not get frustrated she said luckily I felt like I was able to take advantage of some things she wasn't doing well very early and then was able to kind of ride that momentum throughout the match swch served poorly in the first set and her forehand was a real problem with 22 of her 41 unforced errors coming on that side Pula made only 22 unforced errors in all and used terrific defense to keep forcing swek to hit an extra shot Pula repeatedly did what seemed nearly impossible lately against swotch who counts the 2022 US Open among her five grand slam titles and has led the WTA rankings for most of the past 2 and 1 half years break her sered entering Wednesday swek had lost only a pair of service games across four matches in the tournament both in the first round and she didn't even face a single break point in any of her most recent three contests but Pula whose parents own the NFL's Buffalo Bills and NHL's Buffalo Sabers didn't have much trouble in that department especially at the outset breaking in each of sw's initial two service games which both ended with double faults and three of the first six it helped that swotch was unable to properly calibrate her first serves early putting just two of 12 16.7% in play at the start and only 36% for the opening set even as the games kept going in her favor Pula didn't show much perceptible emotion whether grabbing a 4 to zero lead just 21 minutes in or taking up that set which was greeted with a slight shake of her left fist as she walked to her sideline seat suitech didn't hide her thoughts that well she smacked her racket against the top of the net she slapped her right thigh after a forehand flew wide to get broken yet again in trail 4 to three in the second set 15 minutes later it was over it's never easy to play against Jess swek said she has a tricky ball because it's pretty low and pretty flat I just made too many mistakes Pula entered the day as the only player inside the wta's top 10 who hadn't reached a major semifinal 0 to6 in her career in Slam quarterfinals she was one lost shy of the worst major quarterfinal record by any woman in the open era shared by three players 0 to7 during that 0 to6 rut two of her exits came against swch and one was against another number one player Ash bardy Pula was asked about that record in this round during her postmatch interview on court after winning her fourth round match and again in the news conference that followed and again during a TV interview before stepping out into Arthur Ash Stadium on Wednesday if that all weighed on pugula she didn't let it show