Jessica Pegula cruised through the U.S. Open to her seventh Grand Slam quarterfinal and now she's aiming to finally make the semifinals.
The sixth-seeded American, born in Buffalo to future Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula, defeated Diana Schneider 6-4, 6-2 in the fourth round on Monday at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
She has not dropped a set in her four matches at the U.S. Open this year, showing she is ready to make a breakthrough.
Pegula is 0-6 in Grand Slam quarterfinals. Will Wednesday be her lucky seventh win?
“I'm going to take my experience and my feelings into the next game, but it's really tough,” Pegula said. “I'm just going to take my experience and how I've handled it in the past and what I'm going to do differently mentally this time around. It's not that different, really.”
“That's helped. Obviously I've had some good results in some big tournaments leading up to this point. The only difference is maybe I had a tough start to the year, so I'm kind of grateful to have been able to turn it around like I have in the last month. The years before that it was like quarter-final, quarter-final. I was having one good result after another.”
The 30-year-old Pegula had a lot to be thankful for long before he recovered from neck and back injuries to win in Toronto and reach the final in Cincinnati last month.
Father Terry made billions in oil and gas, selling most of his fracking business for $4.7 billion in 2010 and buying the Bills and Sabres.
It comes with preconceived ideas about Pegula's privilege.
But as a relatively normal woman wearing a black Yankees hat aboard the No. 7 train to Flushing, she is equally indignant and motivated by assumptions about her wealthy life.
“I was recently interviewed by the media, and they asked me, 'What is the most annoying thing?' And it's that people think I have a butler, I drive around in a private limousine, I fly everywhere in a private jet,” Pegula said. “I'm definitely not that kind of person. People can think what they want. It's kind of weird.
“A butler? Like, I've read comments like, 'She'd have this and that and all that,' and I'm like, no, not at all. Maybe she should. I don't know at this point. Is that what you want me to do, to do all these crazy things? Yeah, it's kind of frustrating. But honestly, I don't actually know anyone who lives like that, so it's kind of crazy. It's ridiculous.”
Pegula outplayed her 20-year-old Russian rival with an 84 mph ace – her sixth of the afternoon – to seal the victory.
Pegula will now face either world No. 1 Iga Swiatek or the hard-hitting No. 16 Lyudmila Samsonova, who lost to Swiatek in the U.S. Open quarterfinals two years ago.
If she wins Wednesday, Pegula will become the oldest American woman to play in her first Grand Slam singles semifinal.
According to ESPN, the loss tied the record for the most quarterfinals appearances in a women's major tournament without reaching the semifinals in the professional era.
“I just need to win the match to get to the semifinals and that will solve everything, right?” said Pegula, who missed out on a final match against Emma Navarro, an American heiress born in New York to a future billionaire banker.
“I love Emma. She's so funny,” Pegula laughed. “Emma plays really good tennis. She's really, really good. She's a great athlete, she's mentally stable and she's only going to get better and better. She's definitely going to be a Grand Slam threat for the next 10 years or as long as she plays.”
“Mentally she's very tough and has shown that she's not going to be bothered by a lot of things. … She's one of the hottest players on tour right now, so I don't think she's too shaken by this moment. I've gotten to know her really well this year and she's the best. Don't let her fool you.”
