'Never thought I'd be good at this' - Pegula reaches semis

US Open 2025

Venue: Flushing Meadows, New York Dates: 24 August-7 September

Coverage: Live radio commentaries across 5 Live Sport and BBC Sounds, plus live text commentaries on the BBC Sport website & app

Jessica Pegula says that she could not have imagined being so comfortable in big Grand Slam matches after sweeping Barbora Krejcikova aside to reach the US Open semi-finals.

The American fourth seed beat former world number two Krejcikova 6-3 6-3 to advance to the last four, where she will face either defending champion Aryna Sabalenka or Marketa Vondrousova.

Czech Krejcikova, a two-time Grand Slam singles champion, represented a dangerous opponent after recovering from a set down and saving eight match points against Taylor Townsend in the previous round.

But an impressive Pegula, who is yet to drop a set here, made serene progress to reach the semi-finals in New York for a second year in a row.

"I feel really comfortable. It's crazy to feel this comfortable on the biggest court in the world with the craziest crowd and the best players," she said.

"Ten years ago I never thought I'd be good at this - but I guess I am."

Pegula capitalised on a slow start from Krejcikova to race into a 3-0 lead, including breaking to love in the second game.

She dominated the baseline exchanges, hitting deep groundstrokes to trap her opponent at the back of the court and regularly attacked the net to keep her opponent off-balance.

Although Krejcikova pulled it back to 4-3, she was left to rue a poor serving performance, with a double fault at 40-30 opening the door for Pegula to break again in the eighth game and then close out the set.

Krejcikova's serving struggles - winning just 28% of points on her second serve in the opener - continued and a pair of double faults at the start of the second set gifted Pegula an early break.

Pegula was not without her own service wobbles, throwing away a double break lead in the sixth game as Krejcikova sniffed another unlikely comeback.

But she maintained her composure and, a seventh double fault of the afternoon from Krejcikova brought up match point - which Pegula seized at the first attempt.

"I think I've been playing some really good tennis. I've been playing really solid and having good starts," Pegula said.

"She had a couple of really good returns when I was serving at 4-1 and we all saw what she did against Taylor, so I'm happy that we're done."