NEW YORK: Jessica Pegula returned to the quarter-finals of her home Grand Slam with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Diana Shnaider on Monday.

On Arthur Ashe Stadium, the sixth seed needed an hour and 27 minutes to fend off rising 20-year-old Shnaider, the youngest player to reach this week’s Round of 16.

With the win, Pegula moves into her seventh career Grand Slam quarter-final, and her second at the US Open. New York native Pegula previously made the elite eight at Flushing Meadows in 2022.

She extended her hot summer run in 2024, improving to an incredible 13-1 since the tour returned to North American hard courts.

Another tough opponent awaits the 30-year-old in the quarters — either world number one and 2022 US Open champion Iga Swiatek, or big-hitting 16th seed Liudmila Samsonova. Swiatek knocked Pegula out in the 2022 US Open quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, unseeded Czech Karolina Muchova knocked out Italian fifth seed Jasmine Paolini, beating the French Open and Wimbledon finalist 6-3, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals.

Muchova, 28, had reached the US Open semis last year. She only returned to the tour in June after 10 months out with a wrist injury but has yet to drop a set at the tournament and knocked out two-time champion Naomi Osaka in the second round.

She next faces the winner of the clash between Caroline Wozniacki, the runner-up to Serena Williams in 2014, and Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia.

GAUFF EXITS

On Sunday, Coco Gauff’s title defence ended in a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 loss to fellow American Emma Navarro in the fourth round, the reigning women’s champion becoming the latest big name to make an early exit at Flushing Meadows this year.

Gauff had been looking to avenge her fourth-round loss at this year’s Wimbledon but Navarro, who moves on to play Spain’s Paula Badosa, stunned the crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium with an aggressive all-round display to reach the quarter-finals for the first time.

Third seed Gauff fought her way back into the match after going a set down but ultimately 19 doubles faults and 60 unforced errors meant her first defence of a Grand Slam title was destined to end in disappointment.

Women’s second seed Aryna Sabalenka, the runner-up to Gauff last year, continued her impressive form to move into the last eight with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over her former doubles partner Elise Mertens.

Sabalenka will next face Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, who beat Donna Vekic 7-6 (7/2), 4-6, 6-2 in a rematch of the Paris gold medal final.

Zheng finally secured victory at 2.15 a.m. on Monday - the latest finish to a women’s match at the Grand Slam.

As Gauff exited, US chances were then rekindled when Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz reached the men’s last-eight in the bottom half of the draw which was left wide open after the third-round exit of four-times champion Novak Djokovic, igniting hopes of a first homegrown male Grand Slam champion since Andy Roddick’s win in New York in 2003.

The 20th-ranked Tiafoe notched a 6-4, 7-6 (7/3), 2-6, 6-3 victory over Alexei Popyrin, who shocked Djokovic in the previous round.

Tiafoe saved three set points in the second set and will face Bulgarian veteran Dimitrov for a place in the semi-finals.

Dimitrov was earlier cheered on by Serena Williams as he downed sixth seed Andrey Rublev 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 1-6, 3-6, 6-3.

Zverev, still searching for his first Grand Slam title at the age of 27, reached the quarter-finals at a major for the 13th time after coming from a set down to beat American Brandon Nakashima 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.

The fourth seed, who lost to Dominic Thiem on a deciding set tiebreak in the 2020 final, will next face another American in Fritz, who overcame a sluggish start to beat Norwegian Casper Ruud, the losing finalist in 2022, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2024