At 30, Jessica Pegula is on the brink of her first major semifinal

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NEW YORK -- Jessica Pegula's US Open run started in tears.

Tasked with playing her longtime friend Shelby Rogers in the first round, Pegula knew it would be emotional no matter what happened. Rogers had announced that the tournament would be her final one before retiring, and after Pegula had secured the straight-sets win, the weight of the moment seemed to hit.

"We grew up playing juniors together, grew up in the same section, and it's really crazy," Pegula, the No. 6 seed, said on the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium as she cried.

Pegula had previously told reporters that she simply couldn't believe some of her peers were ending their careers. And, considering the success Pegula has had recently, it makes sense why she would think that. While tennis is filled with teenage prodigies and young 20-somethings emerging as superstars, Pegula didn't advance to her first major quarterfinals until she was 26. She was 27 when she cracked the top 20 for the first time.

And now, at 30, Pegula is on the brink of her first Slam semifinal. Retirement is the last thing on her mind. On Monday, with the support of the rowdy holiday crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Pegula defeated No. 18 seed Diana Shnaider 6-4, 6-2. After advancing to the seventh major quarterfinal of her career, Pegula is hoping this will be the tournament in which she can take it one step further, or more.

"Well, I always say I just need to win a match to get to the semis and then that'll solve everything, right?" Pegula said during her on-court interview Monday when asked about what it would take to advance. "But I mean, it doesn't really matter to me. I mean, every match is every match. I've always played it like that. It just so happens to be quarterfinals. "But at the same time, to be able to say I've been in that position many, many times is great. So I just have to keep putting myself there and keep trying to play my game. And it's one point at a time when you're out there."

Jessica Pegula is on the cusp of making it to her first Grand Slam semifinal. AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth

Of course, getting to Thursday's semifinal won't be easy.

Pegula first must get through world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, the winner of five major titles, including the 2022 US Open, on Wednesday. The two have met nine times on tour, with Swiatek holding a 6-3 edge. But Pegula beat Swiatek in the 2023 Canadian Open semifinals -- a tournament Pegula went on to win -- so she knows it's possible. Daunting, but possible.

But that's nothing new for Pegula, who overcame a debilitating knee injury early in her career and then underwent hip surgery in 2016. She was sidelined from competition for nearly a year and questioned if she wanted to continue. Her love for the sport ultimately won over and she decided to keep grinding.

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When she returned to competition, her ranking was outside of the top 800. But she made her first WTA final in 2018 and won her first title at the Citi Open in 2019. None of that surprised Rogers, who has always known how good Pegula could be when playing her best.

"Gosh, I just remember she always had some really easy, natural power, which is no different now," Rogers told ESPN this week. "And she's so relaxed when she's on the court. I feel tennis comes, I don't want to say fairly easy, but she makes it look easy, and that's always been the case."

In 2021, Pegula reached her debut major quarterfinal at the Australian Open. And since then, she has become a consistent presence in the second week of Slams. Following a quarterfinal run at the 2022 French Open, she cracked the top 10 for the first time, and never left. With a career high of No. 3, first achieved in 2022, Pegula is ranked No. 6 and could rise as high as No. 3 in New York. No matter what happens from here on out, she will be the top-ranked American woman in the next rankings because Coco Gauff, the defending champion, was defeated Sunday in the fourth round.

play0:25Pegula wins in straight sets to reach 4th round

Jessica Pegula keeps her US Open dream alive with an efficient 6-3, 6-3 win over Spain's Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.

But, despite her high ranking, Pegula hasn't fared as well at majors this year as she has in recent seasons. She was upset in the second round at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon -- tournaments in which she had reached the quarters in 2023 -- and was unable to play at the French Open, or any of the clay season, due to an undisclosed injury.

But that might have been a blessing in disguise.

While several of her peers, including Swiatek, have complained about the demands of the grueling schedule, and others, such as Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, have cited the addition of the Olympics and the multiple surface changes as part of the reason for their early exits, Pegula said her injury absence has allowed her to be "more fresh" at this stage in the year.

Pegula will play world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals. Robert Prange/Getty Images

"When I started on grass, I [had] had a couple of months off," Pegula said Saturday. "Also, I didn't go to the Middle East [in February due to a neck injury]. I think in a weird way, it was almost a good thing looking back that I've been able to kind of start that part of the year pretty fresh. Even though it was a lot going back and forth with the Olympics and the surface changes and all that."

Since the conclusion of the Olympics -- her second appearance with Team USA -- Pegula won the title at the Canadian Open and reached the final at Cincinnati. Few arrived in New York with more momentum.

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And she's lived up to the pre-tournament hype. Two days after her win over Rogers, Pegula faced another American in Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion. Kenin had recorded an impressive victory over 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu in the opening round, but was simply no match for Pegula. With the 7-6(4), 6-3 win, Pegula continued her undefeated streak (11-0) against Americans in 2024. In the third round, she breezed past Jessica Bouzas, 6-3, 6-3.

During Monday's match against Shnaider, a rising 20-year-old star who has won three titles this season, Pegula needed just 87 minutes to secure the victory. Pegula has yet to drop a set all tournament.

She's now won 13 of her past 14 matches and, along with Emma Navarro, is one of two American women to reach the quarterfinals. If Pegula were to defeat Swiatek, she would become the oldest American woman to make her first major semifinal. If she were to lose, she would tie the record for most Slam quarterfinal appearances without reaching the semifinals by a woman in the Open era. Needless to say, there's a lot on the line.

But for Pegula, no matter what happens, it won't change her goal to win a major title. While some of her direct peers retire, she's more focused than ever.

"It would be frickin' awesome if I won a Grand Slam," Pegula said before the tournament started. "I definitely allow myself to dream, I always have since I was a kid. So I think you have to take yourself to those moments ... I would love to be able to say that I accomplished that, that's always my goal going into a Grand Slam."

At 30, Jessica Pegula is on the brink of her first major semifinal

At 30, Jessica Pegula is on the brink of her first major semifinal

At 30, Jessica Pegula is on the brink of her first major semifinal

At 30, Jessica Pegula is on the brink of her first major semifinal

At 30, Jessica Pegula is on the brink of her first major semifinal