Pegula credits escape room trip for US Open run

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

American Jessica Pegula says completing an escape room with friends helped her rediscover her form and embark on a run to the US Open quarter-finals.

Fourth seed Pegula needed just 54 minutes to beat a nervous Ann Li 6-1 6-2 on Sunday and keep alive her hopes of winning a career-first Grand Slam.

In the last eight she will face 2024 Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova, who saved eight match points on her way to beating home hopeful Taylor Townsend 1-6 7-6 (15-13) 6-3 in a thrilling match.

Pegula, 31, has endured a difficult summer, with a humbling first-round exit at Wimbledon followed by early round exits at WTA events in Washington, Montreal and Cincinnati.

"I felt terrible coming into this tournament, honestly," Pegula said after beating compatriot Li.

After quitting midway through a practice session with world number one Aryna Sabalenka days before the US Open, Pegula's mood improved after a night out with friends.

"[We] went and did an escape room with my friends and had, like, two drinks and [realised] I need to just chill and stop getting so frustrated and overthinking all these practices," she said.

Pegula - who enjoyed a superb run to the final at Flushing Meadows 12 months ago - looked much closer to her best on Sunday as she broke Li six times on her way to victory.

"I know when she's serving well and has confidence she's really dangerous," Pegula said of Li, who she beat in a much tighter match at the French Open back in May.

"I felt like she came out a little slow and nervous and I wanted to jump on that and not let her feel comfortable for a second, that was my motivation all match."

Li represented a potentially tricky opponent despite her world ranking of 58, ranking second for aces with 22 from her first three matches.

The 25-year-old appeared confident as she chose to serve first after winning the coin toss, only for Pegula to break immediately.

Li improved after making 10 unforced errors and winning just 8% of her second serves during the first set, but Pegula seemed to raise her own game in response.

As always Pegula was strong on the baseline but made a conscious effort to move to the net as well. By contrast, Li tended to stay deep in a fruitless effort to keep up with Pegula's powerful strokes.

"I felt really comfortable moving in today and coming in at the right times, it doesn't always feel that good, but it started well and I wanted to keep executing that until the last game," said Pegula.

"It's a part of my game I can really use as a weapon. Sometimes I get stuck at the back because I'm so good there, but we've worked on that a lot and my coaches are happy when I'm finishing overheads and volleys at the net."

In the quarter-finals Pegula will face either world number 62 Barbora Krejcikova or compatriot Taylor Townsend, the latter having eliminated former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and world number five Mirra Andreeva without dropping a set.

Later on Sunday, Krejcikova staged a stunning comeback from a set down against Townsend before admitting she didn't know if she would ever play tennis again after missing the opening months of the season with a back injury.

"What a match. Just four months ago I was off the court and I couldn't play, I had pain in my back and I didn't know if I'd ever be back, and here I am," she said after qualifying for her first US Open quarter-final since 2021.

Townsend - the world doubles number one but 139th in the singles rankings - beat Jelena Ostapenko and fifth seed Mirra Andreeva to reach the last 16 and after she won six straight games to take the first set, few would have predicted that Krejcikova would turn the match around.

A second set riddled with mistakes saw two breaks for each player before a marathon tie-break eventually swung Krejcikova's way.

The Czech showed remarkable mental fortitude to save eight match points before finally capitalising on her fourth set point.

That fightback seemed to give Krejcikova a mental advantage in the deciding set as Townsend began to look subdued, but the American came storming back from a break to whip the partisan crowd on Louis Armstrong Stadium into a frenzy.

The 29-year-old's joy was short-lived though, as Krejcikova broke once more before serving out the set to end the match after three hours and four minutes.