Not her best match by any stretch of the imagination, and neither player was really able to serve. But Pagula raised her game in the second set and forced Swiatek to raise hers.
Mary Jo Fernandez asks Swiatek what it means to be in the Open semi-final. “I wasn’t expecting that,” she says. “I’m trying to keep my expectations low.” Interesting.
Why did she get so many rackets re-strung? “Well, I don’t know, actually. The ball was going kind of high. … I’m sorry if it was annoying.” She gives a pleasant laugh. The crowd has gone out for ice cream. Or whatever. This was more of a Court 5 crowd than an Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd.
So it’s been a shorter night for me than last night, but thanks for following along, and enjoy the Alcaraz-Sinner contest. I just can’t wait to see Caroline Garcia play Ons Jabeur tomorrow night. (On my cell phone while I’m at a rehearsal. Don’t tell my bandmates.)
Updated
Iga Swiatek advances to the semi-final
Swiatek serves and establishes control, driving one hard to Pegula’s backhand. The return sits nicely for her. Match point (6-4).
Swiatek serves for the match. First serve is a let. Second is long. Third is a soft 78 mph, but Pegula hits wide after a short rally, and that’s that.
The crowd knows Pegula’s American, right? This is very much a wine-and-cheese assemblage. Maybe Pegula should hire Frances Tiafoe or Nick Kyrgios as a hype man.
Swiatek serves, and Pagula breaks back. 4-3 Swiatek
Pegula serves, and Swiatek fires a confident winner. 5-3 Swiatek
Pegula serves, Swiatek returns, and Pegula sends one just down the line for a winner. 5-4 Swiatek
Pegula serves, and it’s a replay of the last point in reverse. Fault. Serve, return, net. 2-2
Pegula serves, and it’s a good one, forcing Swiatek wide. But Swiatek quickly asserts control, forces Pegula to one side and hitting to the other. 3-2 Swiatek.
Swiatek serves, and Pegula’s return is long. At last, someone wins a point on her serve. 4-2 Swiatek.
Second-set tiebreaker
Pegula serves poorly. 1-0 Swiatek.
Swiatek serves well, but Pegula rises to the challenge and outlasts the world’s No. 1, who hits wide. 1-1.
Swiatek serves, and she swats the ball away after a fault. Pegula returns her second, and Swiatek immediately hits into the net. Appropriately for this match, neither player has won a point on her serve. 2-1 Pegula.
Swiatek 6-3 6-6 Pegula (going to tiebreaker)
At 15-0, a siren wails in the distance through an extended point. Pegula answers the call with a clean backhand winner. Then Swiatek hits one into the next. 15-30.
Swiatek wide. 15-40. Double non-hold point. We’re in bizarro world now.
Fault.
Swiatek barely hits in. Pegula barely hits in. Swiatek hits long. 18-shot rally, and are we ready for a tiebreaker?
This is astounding. Pegula seemed out of it.
*Swiatek 6-3 6-5 Pegula (* – denotes next server)
At 30-0, having seen even more of Pegula’s creative shot-making, Swiatek switches to a racket that was restrung during the first set. She hits a good drop shot. Pegula hits a better one. 40-0. Triple hold point.
Swiatek stays alive in the game with a shot that lands squarely on the baseline. Then she outslugs Pegula – some of these forehands must be faster than a lot of the serves here. 40-30.
On the next point, Swiatek again uncorks a furious return. She dominates the rally, only to see Pegula make a miraculous save … maybe … no, it’s just out.
And Pegula hits long again. Break point.
Pegula strikes back with an unreturned serves – which, as the ESPN crew points out, hasn’t happened often in this match. Deuce.
Swiatek is swinging for the fences here – or, if you prefer, the lines. She takes Pegula wide with a shot that just catches the line, then hits a winner into the now-vacant side of the court.
Pegula cracks. It’s a double fault. While breaks have meant little in this match, that could be the last one Swiatek needs.
Swiatek 6-3 5-5 Pegula* (* – denotes next server)
Andy Roddick is here! Will that bring a dose of good luck to a fellow American?
Not on the first point, but Pegula plays the next one brilliantly, finding unexpected angles and forcing a wrong-footed Swiatek to do a split, unable to get there. The next is more of the same, and Pegula goes to the net to finish it. 15-30. Can Pegula hang in this match?
The next point is even more of the same. Like a batter facing Nuke Laloosh in Bull Durham, Swiatek has no idea where the next shot is coming, and she shows a bit of frustration after dropping the next point. Double break point.
Swiatek fends off the first. Then she sails one into the night. We’re on break. Again.
This isn’t over.
*Swiatek 6-3 5-4 Pegula (* – denotes next server)
Swiatek has never looked particularly frustrated in this match. Pegula has, and at 0-30, she certainly does. But Swiatek finds the net to make it 15-30 and hits long for 30-all.
Pegula then plays one of her best points of the match on one of the longest – 23 shots. She drives Swiatek into a corner. As Swiatek races back to the middle of the baseline, Pegula hits a drop shot. Swiatek somehow gets there but hits wide.
Swiatek responds with a winner to get to deuce. Pegula compounds the issue with a double fault.
The closing rally is cruel to Pegula. On the 20th shot, Swiatek’s shot hits the net cord, pops up slightly, and drops just over the net just inside the sideline. Swiatek raises a hand as if to apologize. She’ll serve for the set.
Swiatek 6-3 4-4 Pegula* (* – denotes next server)
So someone has a souvenir, and Pegula has a warning.
Then she has a chance to break back, rallying well and landing a nifty drop shot that can Swiatek can barely tap to the net. 15-40.
Swiatek overpowers Pegula on the next point, and the American responds with the defensive lob that has served her well. But this one’s a little long, and that’s one break point gone.
But Pegula hangs in on the next point, and Swiatek’s shot finds the net.
Should we even say we’re “on serve” in this set? Should we say we’re “on break”? (As opposed to “on a break,” a catchphrase from a New York sitcom.)
*Swiatek 6-3 4-3 Pegula (* – denotes next server)
Given the frequency of breaks tonight, there may be no added significance to losing a game on one’s serve, but you get the feeling this is a pivotal game for Pegula. Three straight unforced errors give Swiatek three chances to win it, and she hits long on the next rally. Swiatek returns it, taking no chances just as the “out!” call comes, and Pegula angrily hits the ball deep into the stands.
Swiatek 6-3 3-3 Pegula* (* – denotes next server)
Swiatek slams her way to win the first point, then drops in a nice ace. That’s her first. Neither of these players is Serena Williams – the average serve speed is comfortably under 100 mph.
Down 0-40, Pegula rebounds with a dazzling rally and a convincing return winner. But Swiatek’s next serve is strong, and she holds.
*Swiatek 6-3 2-3 Pegula (* – denotes next server)
Pegula opens with an ace. They trade points, and then Swiatek gets a bit lucky with a mishit that tails downward and leaves Pegula a difficult return that she misses. 30-30.
The next error is a bit less forced, and it’s break point. Will Swiatek finally miss one? Yes. Pegula hits well, and Swiatek is pushed into looping one out. Deuce, which we haven’t said much recently.
Swiatek returns long. Will Pegula finally hold? No. Well, not yet, as Swiatek fends off a lot of strong shots with precision, going just inside the lines.
At deuce, Swiatek hits one line, moving Pegula to her left, then just inside the other. Two beautiful shots, and it’s another break point. And another one squandered.
She gets another, and Pegula simply slams the door with an impudent serve-and-volley.
Now Swiatek is annoyed, complaining to the umpire about when it’s time to play the next point. She loses the argument. And the point. And the game. Someone held serve!
Swiatek 6-3 2-2 Pegula* (* – denotes next server)
The wold No. 1 opens with a double fault, then misses several opportunities to put away the next point before hitting long. And again on the next point, with Pegula unbelievably saving a shot from deep in the corner and then keeping Swiatek back from the net with a lob, unnerving Swiatek to the point that she hits a smash long.
Triple break point. Swiatek saves the first, but she plays the second as if angry at the ball, and one of her hard-hit shots goes into the net.
Four games, four breaks. This is why women’s tennis is better than men’s tennis. Yes, I said it.
*Swiatek 6-3 2-1 Pegula (* – denotes next server)
The quality of play has taken a significant upward turn. Pegula is hitting well, but Swiatek is hitting better. Double break point, and Swiatek neatly hits a backhand winner to finish it. She’s 4-for-4 on break point. Efficient.
Three games, three breaks. Fun stuff.
Swiatek 6-3 1-1 Pegula* (* – denotes next server)
Up 30-15, Swiatek hesitates just a bit before a second serve. She hits into the net after a brief rally. She hits long on the next. Break point.
Pegula’s next return looks like it might go long. Swiatek keeps a close eye on it, but it finds the baseline. A couple of shots later, Swiatek hits an unforced error. Break. Momentum swing, or will Swiatek respond the same way she did the last time she was broken? (Or, more pertinently, will Pegula respond the same way, with an array of errors?)
*Swiatek 6-3 1-0 Pegula* (* – denotes next server)
At this rate, the late arrivals at Arthur Ashe Stadium will have missed the match. Sure, there’s a men’s match after this, but this was supposed to be the big attraction, wasn’t it?
After dropping two more points, Pegula shows signs of life with a good rally and is well placed in the next, but a net approach goes awry, and she hits long on the next point. Down a set, down a break.
Iga Swiatek wins the first set 6-3
Swiatek takes the first two points with ease. Pegula finally has a good, solid rally and induces Swiatek to race around before hitting just wide.
Then Swiatek shows some power, smashing her way to double set point. And she smashes a forehand winner to close it out.
Too easy. Far too easy. Four straight games to the world No. 1, and she barely needed to tap into her repertoire of impressive shots to win them.
*Swiatek 5-3 Pegula (* – denotes next server)
Swiatek barely gets the sideline, Pegula has to scramble to get it, and Swiatek easily puts it away. Then it’s another nasty error from Pegula, and she’s down 0-30. Then a double fault. 0-40.
“Swiatek is controlling the ball much better,” we hear on ESPN commentary. When has she needed to hit it?
Pegula hits long again and is broken at love. That’s 12 of the last 13 points for Swiatek, and she has hardly needed to do anything.
Swiatek 4-3 Pegula* (* – denotes next server)
Pegula may very well rue that missed break opportunity, because Swiatek is starting to look like the world’s No. 1 player again, or at least someone a couple of places above Pegula. But the American comes up with a momentum-breaking lob to make it 30-15. An unforced error makes it 40-15. Another gives Swiatek the game.
From 3-2 and 30-0 up, Pegula has come unglued. She’ll need a good service game here to settle down.
*Swiatek 3-3 Pegula (* – denotes next server)
Ouch – Pegula has an easy smash lined up to go up 40-0, but she hits too far. The next rally ends early when Pegula hits a lazy shot well wide.
That’s two straight unforced errors. Pegula adds two more, and Swiatek breaks back without much effort.
We have our first celebrity sighting, and it’s not surprising – tennis fan and GOAT-contender Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn. Then it’s Martina Navratilova and her dog Lulu.
Swiatek 2-3 Pegula* (* – denotes next server)
Do they have rodeo in Poland? Swiatek gets so discombobulated as she races forward that she ends up swinging wildly behind her head, as if trying to swing a lasso, and hits well wide. Pegula hits a nice winner to ramp up the pressure, but she misses on the next point and gets handcuffed by a second serve to make it 30-30.
Then it’s yet another strange error, early in the rally, from Swiatek. Another break point for Pegula. Swiatek comes out aggressively. Pegula hits back and approaches the net, only to watch a Swiatek shot sail past her … and long.
First break to Pegula.
*Swiatek 2-2 Pegula (* – denotes next server)
Pegula gets her first winner, forcing a weak return that pops just over the net, allowing the American to step forward and smash away. She takes the next point on another Swiatek error, then hits a series of tough shots to Swiatek’s right, the last unreturnable.
At 40-0, Pegula shows great touch at the net, dropping a diagonal shot that gently settles to the court. Pegular holds at love.
Swiatek 2-1 Pegula* (* – denotes next server)
That’s more like it for the Polish favorite. She gets forward on the court for two forehand winners to go up 40-0 and outlasts Pegula in a 23-shot rally to hold at love.
ESPN shows fans at turnstiles. Get your butts in there, folks.
*Swiatek 1-1 Pegula (* – denotes next server)
Can Pegula hold her own until the crowd, which will surely be on her side, fills in? Why do people work so late in New York anyway? Or do they refuse to take the train?
In any case, Swiatek simply can’t sustain a rally. That’s five unforced errors in two games, and some of the “forced” errors were pretty bad shots as well.
Swiatek 1-0 Pegula* (* – denotes next server)
Break point for Pegula as Swiatek struggles with her serve and double faults. The world No. 1 again misses but holds her nerve to land a second serve and flirt with the lines all over the court to get to deuce.
Swiatek’s first winner of the match gives her game point, but she mishits the next one. Pegula’s wayward return makes again gives Swiatek a chance to get through this game in a mostly silent Arthur Ashe Stadium (New York traffic is brutal), but Swiatek misses on her backhand. The US Open stats feed is generously refering to these errors as “forced.” They are not.
On our third deuce, Pegula hits well and tries to wrap it up with a drop shot, but Swiatek is too quick, capitalizing easily.
On game point, Pegula hits aggressively. Very aggressively. Too aggressively – it’s long, and Swiatek can exhale.
Updated
Lost track of the draws?
Let’s check it out:
MEN
Karen Khachanov, who upset Nick Kyrgios in five sets last night, will face potential No. 1-in-waiting Casper Ruud of Norway.
Did we mention Frances Tiafoe? The excitable American will face the winner of the second half of tonight’s Arthur Ashe Stadium doubleheader, Jannik Sinner vs. third seed Carlos Alcaraz. A messenger on Twitter has registered his displeasure at the lack of coverage of Alcaraz’s five-set win over Marin Cilic in a battle for the ages – Cilic will soon be 34, while Alcaraz is only 19.
WOMEN
Tonight’s winner faces sixth seed Aryna Sabalenka.
The other semi-final has the aforementioned Caroline Garcia, who looked unstoppable against Coco Gauff, against fifth seed Ons Jabeur.
If you’re planning ahead – tomorrow evening’s session at Arthur Ashe Stadium (7:15-ish pm ET) will have the women’s semis, starting with Garcia-Jabeur. I’m tempted to skip rehearsal and watch.
Tonight on ESPN, 81-year-old Cliff Drysdale makes an appearance in the commentary box with Chris Evert. Drysdale reached the US Open final in 1965, before it was actually “Open.”
A computer likes Swiatek to win:
🇵🇱 Iga Swiatek vs. Jessica Pegula 🇺🇸
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 7, 2022
The @IBM Match Insights with Watson call the World No. 1 for the win! pic.twitter.com/QdPUsegEwL
Swiatek will serve first …
Head-to-head …
Pegula beat a then-teenage Swiatek in three sets in Washington, not far from my humble suburban home, in 2019.
Swiatek won in straight sets in Miami and did it again in the Roland Garros quarter-finals.
Pegula is actually far more accomplished in doubles than in singles, but this is her fourth Grand Slam quarter-final in two years and third this year.
Swiatek was dominant earlier this year, winning in Doha, Indian Wells and Miami on hard courts, then moving to clay to win in Stuttgart, Rome and Roland Garros. She hasn’t been as successful since then and lost to the now-dangerous Caroline Garcia in her native Poland. In her last tournament, she lost in the round of 16 to Madison Keys.
Do you know me? My parents own the Buffalo Bills (NFL) and Buffalo Sabres (NHL). I have my own NFTs. I have a vegan skincare line. I’m the top-ranked American women’s tennis player, No. 8 in the world.
Do you know me? I’m the top-ranked tennis player in the world. I won the French Open in 2020 and 2022. I’m Polish.
If you said, “Oh yes, I know Jessica Pegula and Iga Swiatek,” you’re right. If you said, “When do Serena Williams and Coco Gauff play?” … well, we have bad news, even though each better-known American had a nice run in New York.
This is an intriguing quarter-final. And it’s a chance for the USA! USA! USA! (trademark The Guardian live-blogger consortium) to have another US Open semi-finalist after Frances Tiafoe became the first American man to reach that stage in 16 years.
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s Tumaini Carayol on how today’s other women’s quarter-final transpired:
Under immense Arthur Ashe Stadium pressure and with a big opportunity for whoever was courageous enough to take it, Aryna Sabalenka’s destructive ball-striking was in full flow as she returned to the semi-final of the US Open for the second consecutive year, outplaying the former No 1 Karolina Pliskova 6-1, 7-6 (4) to reach her third career grand slam semi-final.
In a tournament with only one grand slam champion remaining at the quarter-final stage, Iga Swiatek, few contenders arrived as desperate to finally clinch their first grand slam title. Pliskova, the 22nd seed, reached her first grand slam final at the US Open in 2016, eventually rising to world No 1. While she has been a constant presence in the late stages of grand slam tournaments since, she is still searching for her first title.
As Ash Barty consolidated her dominance last year, for much of the season Sabalenka was right behind her, No 2 in the rankings, enjoying the best season of her career. After racking up WTA tour titles but falling badly at grand slams, she made back-to-back semi-finals at Wimbledon and the US Open, but she has never gone further.
Now endeavouring to take the next step in her career, it was the fifth seed Sabalenka who came out sharp and determined to rise to the occasion. She served well, crushing the ball and imbuing her every stroke with energy and vitality. As she thrived, Pliskova struggled badly. Her feet were rooted to the spot, her service games peppered with double faults. Pliskova finished a nightmare first set with one winner and 15 unforced errors, her only winner an ace.
Pliskova was much improved throughout the second set. She started the set serving better, she stood up to Sabalenka in the tight moments on her serve. But in the biggest moments, Sabalenka was unplayable. She played an incredible tie-break, utterly demolishing the ball but also pairing her muscular, awesome power with delicate touches; dainty drop volleys, sweet lobs and one lovely drop shot in the tie-break.
Throughout this year, double faults have caked Sabalenka’s game but in seemingly every important moment, Sabalenka slammed down second serves over 100mph with ease. After striking 23 double faults in one match earlier this summer, on Ashe she struck three. She ended with one final moment of glory, a scene-stealing forehand return winner off a first serve to move on.
You can read the full report below:
