WHAT HAPPENED: Without Serena Wiliams and Jennifer Brady in the women’s singles draw, Jessica Pegula is leading the field of American women as the No. 23 seed. She showed why in a commanding win over veteran Misaki Doi of Japan, 6-3, 6-2, continuing a hot year that includes a win over Naomi Osaka in Rome and a quarterfinal run at the Australian Open.
Pegula ran through the first set, dropping just five points on serve and without facing a break point. Doi, who has been ranked as high as No. 30 in the world, struggled to get into rallies or put much pace on her serve to keep Pegula from playing her first-strike style.
The Buffalo, New York, native showed off her improved defense, too, running down an overhead to stop a streak of four scores by the lefty Doi during which the Japanese saved two break points and closed out the game to stay within one break of serve in the first set. Pegula’s lob reset the point, which she ended up winning to get back in control of the match.
The second set was all Pegula. She served out the match with a burst of offense after going down love-30. Two big serves, a forehand winner, and solid rallying that forced a Doi error sent her into the third round, matching her best US Open showing. At an hour and five minutes, the match took one minute longer than Pegula’s first-round win.
The stat sheet doesn’t tell the real story. The confidence behind Pegula’s winning numbers—69 percent of first serves in, 84 percent of them won, 23 winners to 19 errors, and 45 percent of return points won—is the biggest weapon that could carry her to another deep run in a year full of them.
WHAT IT MEANS: Pegula next plays No. 11 seed Belinda Bencic, a rematch of their Tokyo Olympics meeting that Bencic won en route to the gold medal. The Swiss won that match in straight sets and has looked impressive at the US Open, winning her first two rounds without dropping a set. Bencic made the semifinal here in 2019.
Pegula was a set away from her first Grand Slam semi in Australia this year, taking the first set against fellow American Jennifer Brady in the quarterfinal. She built on that success with deep runs at Doha, Miami, Rome, Montreal, and Cincinnati to move her ranking from 62 to 25 this year, and so far in New York, she’s still on that upward trajectory. The match against Bencic will feature two big-hitting players in fine form who are serious contenders to make the late stages of the tournament.
MATCH POINT: In 15 events this year, Pegula has lost to a lower-ranked player only four times.
