Pegula sweeps Swiatek for semi-final spot

Jessica Pegula beat world No. 1 Iga Swiatek to put a second American into the US Open semi-finals while breaking a personal barrier at the Grand Slams.

The sixth seed had never reached the final-four stage at a major, but crashed through that barrier with her 6-2, 6-4 upset of the Polish top seed 

She joins compatriot Emma Navarro in the semis after losing her first six grand Slam quarter-finals.

“I thought I played a really clean match, served pretty well, returned well,” Pegula said.  “I didn’t really do anything that bad, and was able to jump on her really early and frustrate her.

“I kept level even when she picked it up in the second set. I just played all-around really good tennis today.”

Pegula will play for the Saturday final against Czech Karolina Muchova, a winner over Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-1, 6-4.

Pegula has been making up for lost time after injury forced her to miss the first four Masters tournaments of the season.

She then won Montreal last month, played the Cincinnati final and stands on new ground in New York at age 30.

.”I think today I wanted to come out playing the way I wanted to play,” Pegula said of her Swiatek win. “I could tell right away she was frustrated on the serve.”

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