US Open: Pegula reaches seventh Grand Slam quarterfinal

NEW YORK (AP):

Jessica Pegula is back in the quarterfinals at the US Open after a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Diana Shnaider yesterday, her seventh trip to that round at a Grand Slam tournament. Now comes the hard part: Pegula is 0-6 in major quarterfinals over her career.

The No. 6-seeded Pegula, an American whose parents own the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, is on quite a run at the moment, having won 13 of her past 14 matches, all on hard courts. That included her second consecutive title in Canada and an appearance in the final at the Cincinnati Open, where she lost to No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka.

“I feel like there’s been more pressure this year, because I did so well coming into this tournament,” said the 30-year-old Pegula, the oldest woman left in the field. “I want to keep working my way and hopefully bringing my best tennis for the later rounds this time.”

Also returning to the quarterfinals was Karolina Muchova, a 6-3, 6-3 winner over No. 5 Jasmine Paolini, the runner-up at the French Open and Wimbledon this season. Muchova next plays No. 22 Beatriz Haddad Maia, who got past 2018 Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to become the first woman from Brazil in the US Open quarterfinals since Maria Bueno in 1968.

Haddad Maia is a 28-year-old left-hander who was given a 10-month suspension after failing a doping test in 2019. She was a semifinalist at the French Open last year but had not been past the second round at Flushing Meadows until now.

Muchova enjoyed a breakthrough 2023, getting to the final in Paris and the semifinals in New York, before needing surgery on her right wrist in October, sidelining her for 10 months.

“This was my worst and most serious injury, I would say. But, I mean, I love the sport, so in my head, I was like, ’I will do everything I could to (get) better and try.’ And here I am today,” said Muchova, whose US Open ended a year ago with a loss to eventual champion Coco Gauff. “I’m just a really happy kid now.”

Gauff was seeded No. 3 this year and was eliminated Sunday by No. 13 Emma Navarro.

In men’s action yesterday, No. 25 Jack Draper became the first British man to reach the quarterfinals in New York since the recently retired Andy Murray did it in 2016. Draper, who exited in the fourth round a year ago, will appear in his first Slam quarterfinal thanks to a 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 win against unseeded Tomas Machac.

“I obviously miss Andy. Shoutout to Andy. What an unbelievable career the guy’s had. Just an icon of the game. I miss him in the change rooms,” said Draper, who’ll take on No. 10 Alex de Minaur or Jordan Thompson. “Andy’s a legend, and if I have half the career he had, then I’ll be a happy man.”

No. 5 Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 champion who is the only past men’s winner still in the bracket, overwhelmed Nuno Borges 6-0, 6-1, 6-3 in a victory delayed for six minutes – along with every other match going on at the time – because of a fire alarm in the building that houses the electronic line-calling system.