U.S. Open 2024: Jessica Pegula knocks off No. 1 Iga Swiatek to join American contingent in semifinals
Jessica Pegula raises her arms after defeating Iga Swiatek in straight sets during their U.S. Open quarterfinal match at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Wednesday. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Tennis, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet?
Not sure that tennis is about to pass baseball (or football) as the American pastime, but there is no doubting that the sport currently being played at the U.S. Open is having a very American moment.
For the first time in more than two decades, the men’s and women’s semifinals will feature a total of four players who call the United States home.
No. 6 seed Jessica Pegula became the fourth American to clinch a berth in the tournament’s semifinals with a dominant 6-2, 6-4 win over top seed Iga Swiatek Wednesday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Pegula advances to play unseeded Karolina Muchova in Thursday’s semifinals. Fellow American Emma Navarro will play No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka in the other women’s semifinal.
Friday will feature an All-American semifinal match when No. 12 seed Taylor Fritz meets his good friend and No. 20 seed Frances Tiafoe.
The last time any Grand Slam featured multiple Americans in the men’s and women’s semifinals was the 2003 U.S. Open when Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, Lindsey Davenport and Jennifer Capriati made it.
“It’s great for American tennis,” said Navarro, a 23-year-old who was born in New York and grew up in South Carolina, after her three-set quarterfinal win over Paula Badosa. “Of course, I want to see myself and my fellow Americans go as far as we can go in the tournament.”
Americans were poised to make a statement heading into the tournament as five American men — Tiafoe, Fritz, Tommy Paul, Ben Shelton and Sebastian Korda — and five American women — Pegula, Navarro, Coco Gauff, Madison Keys and Danielle Collins — were ranked in the top 20.
Not since 1996 has the United States had five women and five men ranked this highly all at the same time.
The women’s game has seen plenty of American greatness over the past two decades with Serena and Venus Williams totaling 30 Grand Slam titles and Gauff, Sloane Stephens and Keys all having played in U.S. Open finals.
The men’s game, however, has been dominated by Europeans Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
When Tiafoe reached the semifinals in New York two years ago, beating Nadal along the way, it marked the first time since Roddick in 2006 that an American was a male semifinalist.
Tiafoe, who is trying to make it to his first Grand Slam final, believes that his generation of men has been poised to make some noise for a couple of years.
“We’ve spoken about it for years: ‘This is the group. This is the group.’ We openly speak about it,” Tiafoe said. “We’ve all been knocking on the door. You put yourself in positions, it’s only a matter of time. And the game is open. It’s not like it once was, where you make quarterfinals, you play Rafa, and you’re looking at flights.”
Pegula’s win may have been the most gratifying of all given that she entered the match 0-for-6 in Grand Slam quarterfinals and was playing Swiatek, the top-ranked player in the world
“I’ve been here so many times. I needed to just quit losing,” Pegula said in her on- court interview. “Finally, I can say semifinals. And to do it against the No. 1 player in the world. That’s just crazy.”
If both Pegula and Navarro win their semifinal matches, the U.S. Open would have its first All-American women’s final since Stephens beat Keys for the title in 2017.
The fact two Americans are playing each other in the men’s semifinals means that an American is guaranteed to be playing for a title for the first time since Roddick lost to Federer in 2006.
Tiafoe does not find it strange that he and his good friend are facing each other in the semifinals. In fact, he said that Fritz pretty much predicted it a couple months ago when Tiafoe was trying to nap on a plane
“He’s like, ‘Bro, I think me and you are going to be the 1-2 Americans and leading the way.’ . . . I was, like, ‘Dang, dude, [it’s] 6 a.m., I’m pretty tired, but let’s do it.’ Why not? He’s kind of had that mindset, and he’s pushed me a lot, you know what I mean?”
Pushed each other right into the semifinals and into the center of a very American moment.
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.