NEW YORK : An all-American fourth-round clash saw former runner-up Madison Keys upset Jessica Pegula to storm into the quarterfinal of the ongoing US Open 2023.
It took just 61 minutes for Keys to overwhelm No.3 seed Jessica Pegula 6-1, 6-3 to advance. She advances to her third career quarterfinal in Flushing Meadows, and 10th overall.
Keys outplayed her American opponent to earn her second Top 5 triumph of 2023 (after her victory over Caroline Garcia in Dubai) and first at a major since defeating Barbora Krejcikova in the 2022 Australian Open quarterfinals.
Keys exploded out of the gate, hitting first-strike wins from every part of the court. Her backhand return was especially devastating, with clean winners from that wing earning a maiden break for 2-0 and bringing up a fourth break chance for 5-1, which Keys converted to win the set’s tightest game.
Keys hit 21 winners to only six from Pegula’s racquet. In response to Pegula’s attempt to change up her tactics, she was able to widen her repertoire in the second set, coming up with a precise lob in the first game and a sequence of great passes.
Although Keys’ win total exceeded Pegula’s, another significant statistic was their same number of unforced mistakes (19 each). Pegula was unable to find her rhythm on either wing, and she also failed to capitalise on her limited chances to win the game. Keys threw up her first errant service game of the tournament with a break-up in the second set at 3-2. After levelling at 3-3, Pegula reacted with a string of sloppy forehand errors, falling 4-3 behind again.
No.9 Marketa Vondrousova kept her cool to rally from a set down to defeat unseeded American Peyton Stearns in the fourth round of the US Open. Vondrousova registered a 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-2 winner over unseeded Peyton Stearns.
“She was playing great from the beginning, and I just tried to stay in the game. I’m very happy. I actually didn’t expect it after Wimby — it was a lot of pressure. We’ll see what happens next,” WTA.com Vondrousova said. (ANI)