Jessica Pegula has shot at revenge vs. Aryna Sabalenka in US Open semis

Andy Clayton, New York Daily News on Sep 3, 2025

Published in Tennis

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NEW YORK — Jessica Pegula has revenge on her mind.

The Buffalo native went on a “crazy run” at last year’s US Open and found herself in her first Grand Slam final.

Opposite her on the Arthur Ashe court on that early September Saturday afternoon in Flushing was the imposing figure of Belarusian ace Aryna Sabalenka.

Pegula, 31, doesn’t remember much about that match. She couldn’t even remember the score (it was 7-5, 7-5). She just knew that she needed to improve her game if she wanted to avoid the bitter taste of defeat the next time she had a chance to face Sabalenka in a major clash.

Fast forward a year and Pegula — seeded No. 4 here this year — has her opportunity, except this time the battle against Sabalenka comes in the semifinal round.

“I think it would be cool to be able to get revenge, obviously,” Pegula said after Tuesday’s comfortable 6-3, 6-3 quarterfinal victory over Barbora Krejcikova. This coming before she knew who her opponent would be in Thursday’s semifinal.

The foe was confirmed as the top-seeded Sabalenka a few hours later when the three-time Grand Slam champ received a walkover into the semis when Marketa Vondrousova was forced out of the tournament because of an injury.

“I didn’t even remember it being that close,” Pegula said about last year’s loss, “which was kind of funny, because I think after the final I was just so, like, wow, we should be in a third set right now.

“I wasn’t very, Oh, you know, what a great match, I’m happy to be in the finals. I literally walked off the court and told my coach, I didn’t serve that well. My serve needs to get better. I didn’t do this well, or I didn’t do that well.”

But reflecting back, the American hunting her first major title appreciates that “actually, last year was pretty incredible.”

“I went on a crazy run,” she said. “I played some girl that just happened to be having an even five percent crazier run than me.

“I didn’t even know the score, and I was, like, ‘wow, I was right there.' ”

But being “right there” and getting over the hump will be the challenge for Pegula on Thursday, even with the homecourt advantage of having the Flushing faithful on her side.

While both have enjoyed relatively calm journeys through the draw so far — neither has lost a set (although Sabalenka has been pushed into a tie-break twice) — the 27-year-old from Belarus has the clear edge on paper and in betting circles.

Sabalenka, who won her first US Open last year to go along with two Australian Open titles (’23 and ’24), holds a commanding 7-2 lead in the head-to-head matchup with Pegula, including 4-2 on hard courts.

They have only faced each other once since the Open final when Sabalenka beat Pegula, 7-5, 6-2, in the final of the Miami Open in March.

“I mean, to even make the second week to then quarters, semis, is a huge accomplishment,” Pegula said. “You know, this was my biggest accomplishment last year was just getting past the quarterfinals. Now I can say I’ve done it twice.”

But she has yet to beat Sabalenka in a major and she’ll find out Thursday if she has improved enough since last year’s defeat to walk off the court at Arthur Ashe as the winner.