Pegula holds off Krejcikova at US Open to make second Slam semifinal

Jessica Pegula defeated Barbora Krejcikova in straight sets to reach her second straight US Open semifinal -- and last year's runner-up has only conceded 23 games in the tournament so far.

Twelve months after breaking through the Grand Slam quarterfinal barrier at the US Open, Jessica Pegula has done it again. The No. 4 seed and last year's runner-up reached the second major semifinal of her career with a 6-3, 6-3 defeat of Barbora Krejcikova in 1 hour and 26 minutes.

US Open: Draws | Scores | Order of play

Pegula, 31, becomes just the second player among those who began their career in the Open Era to reach her first two Grand Slam semifinals after turning 30. She follows Flavia Pennetta, who made the 2013 US Open semifinals aged 31 and then became the champion in New York two years later.

Krejcikova had won the pair's last two meetings, at Dubai 2023 and the WTA Finals Riyadh 2024, but Pegula has been the victor both times they have met at Grand Slams -- back in 2023, she was a 7-5, 6-2 winner in the Australian Open fourth round.

Pegula and Krejcikova had come through contrasting paths to the last eight. Two-time major champion Krejcikova, currently ranked No. 62 due to her six-month injury layoff this year, had pulled off three-set comebacks in her last two matches against Emma Navarro and Taylor Townsend. In the latter, which ran 3 hours and 4 minutes, she saved eight match points -- the most of any player in a Grand Slam this year.

Pegula, meanwhile, had conceded just 17 games en route to the quarterfinals, a total that has only risen to 23 to reach the semifinals. She has yet to face a Top 50 player so far, and will face either No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka or No. 60-ranked Marketa Vondrousova in a bid to return to the final.

Quick starts in both sets: The two players came out of the blocks in contrasting fashion, encapsulated by Krejcikova's first service game. It began by Pegula crunching two forehand winners, which were followed by Krejcikova airing a smash and then double faulting to get broken.

The Czech began to find her rhythm in the fourth game, and clung on to Pegula's heels for the next few games. Krejcikova fended off a point to go down 4-0 and another to go down 5-1, and was rewarded by getting back on serve at 4-3. But Pegula held firm and Krejcikova dipped again to lose the next two games for the set.

Title chase is 🔛

Last year’s runner-up Pegula takes down Krejcikova in straights! pic.twitter.com/OZMdKqsyL7 — US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 2, 2025

Tired-looking errors and double faults meant that Krejcikova quickly fell behind 4-1 in the second set too. Once again, she found flashes of brilliance -- a chipped drop shot return that foiled Pegula completely -- to claw back one of the breaks and reduce the deficit to 4-3. And once again, Pegula halted the mini momentum shift with solid tennis to close out the match. Krejcikova finished with 24 unforced errors, including seven double faults, to only 14 winners. Pegula tallied 17 winners to 20 unforced errors.

"I think I've been playing some really good tennis," said Pegula in her on-court interview. "I've just been playing really solid. I've been having some very good, quick serves, and I really wanted to do that today, especially against someone like her who's very dangerous. Even at the end there, it got really tight -- she had a couple really good returns when I was serving at 4-1, and we all saw what she did against Taylor ... so yeah, I was happy that we're done."

Click here to read article