NEW YORK — Eighth-seeded American Jessica Pegula reached her third Grand Slam quarter-final of the year by rolling to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over 21st-seeded Petra Kvitova in the round of 16 at the US Open in New York.
Rafael Nadal fell to his earliest US Open loss in six years when he was knocked out by Frances Tiafoe.
Pegula will face top-seeded Iga Swiatek in the quarter-finals. Swiatek recovered from a shaky start to post a 2-6, 6-4, 6-0 win over Germany’s Jule Niemeier.
Play was held up for about 45 minutes at 1-1 in the first set while rain fell. There is a retractable roof at Arthur Ashe Stadium, but it wasn’t closed until after a downpour soaked the court.
The US Tennis Association said in a statement that its “weather team” told US Open organisers there was no rain expected. The statement added according to AP: “Unfortunately, a pop-up sunshower occurred.”
The No. 8-seeded Pegula is the highest-ranked American woman and the only player in the top 10 in both singles and doubles.
Pegula is a 28-year-old who was born in New York. Her parents own the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and NHL’s Buffalo Sabres.
She is 0-3 in Grand Slam quarter-finals so far, including losses at that stage at the Australian Open in January and the French Open in June. The loss in Paris came against No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek, who could be Pegula’s next opponent at Flushing Meadows.
For Australian and French Open champion Nadal, it was a first Grand Slam loss of 2022 after an abdominal strain forced him to forfeit his Wimbledon semi-final.
His defeat came just a day after world number one and defending champion Daniil Medvedev was knocked out also in the fourth round by Nick Kyrgios.
“I wasn’t able to push him back. Tennis is a sport of positions a lot of the time,” said 36-year-old Nadal according to AFP.
“You need to be very quick and very young. I am not in that moment anymore.” Nadal added: “I was not able to cause great damage. He was better than me.” Tiafoe, 24, will face Andrey Rublev, who he defeated over five sets in the third round in 2021, for a place in the semi-finals.
“I don’t know what to say, I’m so happy. He’s one of the greatest of all time and I played unbelievable tennis,” said Tiafoe who had only previously reached one Slam quarter-final in Australia in 2019.
“Something special happened today. Honestly when I first came on the scene I wasn’t ready for it mentally and mature enough.
“I’ve been able to develop and I have a great team around me. With you guys, it’s been great.” Seventh seed Rublev shrugged off a rain delay to breeze past Cameron Norrie and reach the quarter-finals for the third time with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win.
Andrey Rublev reached his sixth Grand Slam quarter-final by beating Cam Norrie 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in a match delayed by about 25 minutes while the retractable roof at Louis Armstrong Stadium remained open during a downpour.
The No. 9-seeded Rublev is into his third quarter-final at Flushing Meadows. But he is 0-2 at that stage in New York – and 0-5 at all majors.
No. 7 Norrie was trying to reach the second Grand Slam quarter-final of his career – and of this year. He lost in the Wimbledon semifinals to eventual champion Novak Djokovic in July.
Even when Kvitova took a 2-0 lead in the second, Pegula kept her nerve to storm back and win the next six games to wrap up the win.
“I was just (thinking), ‘Okay, don’t get frustrated, she hit a couple good shots. Stick to your patterns’,” Pegula said after she joined fellow American Coco Gauff in the last eight.
“For me, my placement on my serve was very important. She can really hit it so early so out in front and hit her spots so well.
“That makes it really hard to defend. Even if you get back the first ball of a return you’re probably going to lose the point.”
She next faces world number one Iga Swiatek, who needed three sets to tame 108th-ranked German Jule Niemeier.
“I just have to play smart…,” said Pegula according to Reuters. “I thought I did a great job of that today so I’m going to try and replicate that.”
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