Just In: Jessica Pegula left crying in US Open locker room just moments before match
Jessica Pegula has revealed that she was left crying in the locker room shortly before taking to the Arthur Ashe Stadium for her US Open quarter-final match. The first of two days of quarter-final action in Flushing Meadows was arguably one of the best days of tennis this year. First, defending champion Aryna Sabalenka came back from a break down in the final set to beat Linda Noskova 7-6(1) 3-6 7-6(7).
Then, Frances Tiafoe mounted a sensational comeback from two sets and 3-5 down to beat Alex Michelsen in a final-set tiebreak. World No. 46 Michelsen served for the match in the third set, but got broken, and was in tears immediately after losing the four-hour and 39-minute match.
Tiafoe’s comeback delayed the night session, meaning Pegula and her opponent, Emma Navarro, took to the court around an hour later than scheduled. But the No. 3 seed was more concerned with how Michelsen was feeling.
Pegula was, naturally, keeping an eye on the scores. Once Tiafoe forced a decider, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to hit on Ashe before the night session, and had to have a quick session on the outdoor practice courts. But she made it back into the locker room to see the end of the match, and admitted she was heartbroken for Michelsen.
“I saw Alex serve for it, and yeah, it’s just not easy. It’s really hard to serve for it,” she said. “I had trouble serving for it today. I’ve definitely gotten broken serving for it in the past.
“I think the way Foe was able to handle that has just shown how much better he’s been competing this year, and I think probably a lot of the tough matches he’s had to get through this whole summer and this year paid off probably for that moment.
“Just seeing Alex hug him at the end, I started crying in the locker room. It was so heartbreaking. My heart hurt so much.
It’s crazy. I told my coach, like, you can have two totally different experiences. Like Foe is having the best day of his life, and then Alex is having just the worst moment of his life. That’s just tennis. It’s so tough, but it was an amazing match. Yeah, having to go out after that and then get through that match and then now got another great match going on right now, it’s been a good day I think for tennis.”
The American produced a comeback victory of her own when she finally got out for the night session, beating Emma Navarro 3-6 6-4 6-3. It was a great day for the Americans, as Ben Shelton stunned defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in a fifth-set tiebreak at 3.33am.
Pegula will now face Sabalenka in the semi-finals, and she also kept tabs on the world No. 1’s clash with Noskova.
She added: “I saw a bit of Aryna-Noskova. I watched the ten-point tiebreaker because I was about to leave to go to site, and I was like, I’ve got to see the ending of this. I thought it was great tennis. I’m a big fan of Linda. She’s so Czech and just so relaxed and chill, but just absolutely just roped the ball.
“I like her team a lot, so I have a lot of respect for her, and then I just thought the way Aryna was able to bounce back just shows why she’s defending champion, why she’s No. 1. She’s a great competitor no matter what. So that was a really fun match.”
