US Open: Jessica Pegula upsets No. 1 Iga Swiatek to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal

Swiatek served poorly in the first set and her forehand was a real problem, with 22 of her 41 unforced errors coming on that side. Pegula used terrific defense to keep forcing Swiatek to hit an extra shot.

The No. 6-seeded Pegula , a 30-year-old American, has won 14 of her past 15 matches and will make her debut appearance in the semifinals of a Slam on Thursday against unseeded Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic.

Pegula repeatedly did what seemed nearly impossible to do lately against Swiatek, who counts the 2022 U.S. Open among her five Grand Slam titles and has led the WTA rankings for most of the past 2 1/2 years: break her serve.

Entering Wednesday, Swiatek had lost just a pair of service games across four matches in the hard-court tournament, both in the first round — and she didn’t even face a single break point in any of her most recent three contests. That’s all part of why the 23-year-old from Poland was listed as a -350 money-line favorite against Pegula, according to BetMGM Sportsbook .

But Pegula, whose parents own the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, didn’t have much trouble in that department, especially at the outset, breaking in each of Swiatek’s initial two service games, which both ended with double-faults, and three of the first six.

It helped that Swiatek was unable to properly calibrate her first serves early, putting just 2 of 12 — 16.7% — in play at the start, only 36% for the opening set.

During Pegula’s previous 0-6 rut in major quarterfinals, two of the exits came against Swiatek, and one was against another No. 1 player, Ash Barty.

Pegula was asked about that record in this round during her post-match 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 Ashe Stadium on Wednesday.

If that bothered her, Pegula didn’t let it show. Much the way she didn’t show any perceptible emotion after going up 4-0 just 21 minutes into the quarterfinal. Even when Pegula grabbed that set, there was just a slight shake of her left fist as she walked to her sideline seat.

Swiatek didn’t hide her frustration that well, including a big slap of her right thigh after a forehand flew wide to get broken yet again and trail 4-3 in the second set. Fifteen minutes later, it was over.