Krejcikova saves eight match points to outlast Townsend; Pegula into quarters
NEW YORK -- Jessica Pegula considers her matches in Arthur Ashe Stadium a home game.
“I’ve obviously kind of earned that right over the years,” Pegula said. “Specifically here being an American, I have played a lot there now. Maybe against someone that hasn’t gotten a lot of reps on that court, I think it is a little bit like a home-court advantage.”
Ann Li is an American, too, but she lost her nervous debut on the US Open’s largest court 6-1, 6-2 to the No. 4-seeded Pegula on Sunday. Pegula advanced to Tuesday’s quarterfinals, where she’ll meet unseeded Barbora Krejcikova.
But the 29-year-old from the Czech Republic is no stranger to the big stage. She’s won a total of 12 Grand Slam singles and doubles titles and an Olympic gold medal.
Trailing a set and a break, Krejcikova saved an extraordinary eight match points to force a third set. And with the vast majority of the 14,000 crammed into Louis Armstrong Stadium pulling against her, Krejcikova won the match 1-6, 7-6 (13), 6-3 -- in 3 hours and 4 minutes.
“I mean, what a match,” said a breathless Krejcikova in her on-court interview. “What a match. Just four months ago I was off the court and couldn’t play. I had a huge pain in my back and didn’t know if I’d ever play again.
“It’s a huge privilege to be here.”
Krejcikova holds a 2-1 head-to-head advantage over Pegula, winning their most recent match 6-3, 6-3 in last year’s WTA Finals in Riyadh.
After 22 minutes of her match against Townsend, you would never have guessed Krejcikova would win it. That was how long it took the 29-year-old American to win six of the first seven games.
The second set, however, ran a thrilling total of 98 minutes and featured eight match points -- none of them converted by Townsend. Krejcikova saved the eighth with an unreturnable serve and cashed her fourth set point with a thumping overhead. That tiebreak ran 25-plus minutes.
The third set sailed along on serve until the sixth game, when Krejcikova asserted herself. A swinging backhand volley winner made it 4-2 and put Townsend behind for the first time in the match. But Townsend bounced right back with a deep backhand winner to get it back on serve.
The definitive break came with Townsend trailing 4-3. Krejcikova made two memorable shots -- a running forehand that brought her two break opportunities -- and a launching backhand return winner to erase a game point for Townsend. Two netted balls by Townsend made it 5-3 and Krejcikova served it out.
Pegula knows she’ll be dangerous.
“She disguises her shots so well,” she said of Krejcikova. “She’s really crafty. She changes the direction of the ball. She can serve well. It feels a little bit this year like she’s kind of doing what she’s done in the past when she’s gone deep. She’s managing the three sets really well and winning and kind of figuring out ways to win.
“Her game is very unorthodox. That’s why she’s beaten a lot of top players as well when she’s playing well. It can just, yeah, frustrate you, because you’re not really sure what to expect. There’s not a lot of patterns.”
It’s admittedly been an up-and-down year for Pegula by her high standards, but she’s suddenly come alive this fortnight. Pegula has now beaten Mayar Sherif, Anna Blinkova, Victoria Azarenka and Li -- all in straight sets -- and dropped only 17 games, her fewest ever on the way to her seventh major quarterfinal.
Pegula’s trying to match last year’s career-best US Open result, a run to the final. Toward that end, she brought both of her coaches, Mark Knowles and Mark Merklein, to New York. Ordinarily, they split tournaments, but were both on hand a year ago, and Pegula wanted to recreate that team vibe.
They have been calling for more forward play and on Sunday, Pegula gave it to them, winning 12 of 15 points at net.
“It’s a part of my game I can use as a weapon,” Pegula said. “We’ve definitely worked on that a lot. They’re really happy when I can finish a point with an overhead or a volley at the net.”
Her calling card is beating the players she’s supposed to beat. This was her 15th straight victory against an opponent ranked outside the Top 50 at the US Open; the last loss was six years ago to Alize Cornet.
Pegula ended the deepest Grand Slam run in Li’s career, breaking her serve six of eight times in 54 minutes.