No. 4 seed Jessica Pegula, the 2024 US Open runner-up, advanced to the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows for a second straight year by defeating fellow American Ann Li 6-1, 6-2 in just 54 minutes Sunday.
Pegula, who opened the day session at Arthur Ashe Stadium, hasn’t dropped a set at this year’s tournament, and only once was kept on court for more than 1 hour, 15 minutes.
The three games she dropped against Li were her fewest in a US Open match for her career. Through four rounds, Pegula has lost just 17 games, her fewest en route to any of her eight major quarterfinal appearances.
“Probably the best match, honestly, I’ve played since, like, before Wimbledon, I feel like from the start to finish. So, that was encouraging,” the Buffalo native said. “I was just hitting the ball, doing everything well, executing my strategy very well and got through it pretty quick.”
Aryna Sabalenka, who defeated Pegula in last year’s championship match, dominated Cristina Bucsa 6-1, 6-4 in the night session to also reach the quarterfinals without dropping a set and assure herself of retaining the No. 1 ranking after the tournament.
Sabalenka has made the quarterfinal round or better in 12 consecutive major starts, the longest streak by a woman since Serena Williams’ run of 16 straight from 2000 to 2005.
Sabalenka’s next opponent will be 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, who defeated 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 at night with the help of 13 aces, including three in the last game.
Pegula had been 0-6 in Grand Slam quarterfinals before upsetting Iga Swiatek in that round last year at Flushing Meadows. Pegula reached the final, where she was defeated by Sabalenka. But Pegula wasn’t sure her tennis was ready for a follow-up when she returned to New York.
She had lost four of her previous six singles matches coming into the US Open, and said she played so poorly while practicing with Sabalenka a few days before the tournament that she stopped early, opting for an escape room with some friends and a couple of drinks.
Things have certainly gotten better since.
“Like I said, I haven’t been feeling my best on court, so to be able to come back and make another quarterfinal here is something I’m definitely proud of,” Pegula said. “Of course, I want to go further and do more and win the tournament, but I feel like, just on a personal kind of goal level, I’m happy with the way I’ve been able to kind of turn some of my tennis around the last few weeks.”
Li, ranked 58th and one of five American women to reach the round of 16, was the highest-ranked player Pegula has faced in the tournament, but the 25-year-old was overpowered in her first appearance in the round of 16 in a major. Pegula broke her all four times she served in the 25-minute first set, and Li had just five winners against 19 unforced errors in the match.
Pegula will face Barbora Krejcikova in the quarterfinals after the two-time Grand Slam champion fought off eight match points in a second set that ended with a 25-minute tiebreaker and beat Taylor Townsend 1-6, 7-6 (13), 6-3.
Pegula will certainly be the fresher player Tuesday. Krejcikova, who missed nearly five months to begin the season because of a back injury, rallied late to knock off 10th-seeded American Emma Navarro in 2½ hours in the third round, then went 3 hours, 4 minutes Sunday — 98 minutes alone for the second set.
“I don’t worry. I’m not really thinking about it right now,” Krejcikova said. “I’m just really happy that I won today because, I mean, also, if one point didn’t go my way, I would have been searching for flights.”
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
