Iga Swiatek fends off Jessica Pegula to seal semi-finals spot

World No.1 Iga Swiatek of Poland booked a spot in the semi-finals of the US Open with a 6-3, 7-6(4) triumph over No.8 seed Jessica Pegula of the United States in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Wednesday.

Swiatek had 22 winners in the clash to Pegula’s 14, and she finished with only three more unforced errors than the American. “I was able today to use my intuition a little bit more. I didn’t force myself to do every step right, all this technical stuff that I’ve been working on. It was more, like, natural today. I was able to focus on just more basic stuff. That was nice because I didn’t have thousands of things to improve in my head,” WTA.com quoted Swiatek as saying. Swiatek will take on No.6 seed Aryna Sabalenka, with each of them vying for a spot in their first US Open final. Earlier, Aryna Sabalenka became the first woman since Serena Williams (2019-20) to reach back-to-back semifinals at the US Open. The No.6 seed dominated No.22 Karolina Pliskova 6-1, 7-6 (4) on Wednesday in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“I think I start really well, and the first set was really high level for me and put a lot of pressure on her,” Sabalenka told reporters later.

“First set was really great. In the second set, I knew she will kind of try to come back and she will do better. I just tried to hold my serve and try to put her under pressure on her serve,” she added.

“Semifinal, it’s going to be tough. I’m ready for another fight. I have to stay focused on myself,” Sabalenka said in her on-court interview.

“I would say that I didn’t expect [Pliskova] to play that well. I expect myself to win the rest of the matches really easy. And then I had another experience in the [US Open] semifinal. Again, I lost it,” she added.