Jessica Pegula sets up blockbuster clash with Elina Svitolina at US Open

The American has reached the quarterfinals in five of her past seven Grand Slam appearances and she took a step closer to increasing that number with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Romania's Patricia Maria Tig in the last match of Thursday's night session in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

After failing to do so in her first three appearances in Flushing Meadows, Pegula has reached the US Open's third round for the fourth consecutive year.

A frigid start on a cooler-than-normal evening in Queens featured a trade of breaks in the first three games, but the back-and-forth didn't last long, as the world No. 3 settled in and found her range to pull away.

Pegula finished in fine form, winning eight of the final nine games.

"It was awkward," Pegula said of the tricky dynamics of the match. "We haven't played each other; we were both nervous.

"Playing at night, conditions are different. It's kind of cool tonight, totally different than when I played here the other day. You just have to adjust and get used to it."

Tig, one of 10 mothers in this year's US Open women's singles draw, was contesting her second career match against a Top 10 player, and her first since 2021. The current world No. 700 was playing the main draw on a protected ranking of No. 65; she climbed as high as No. 56 in October of 2020.

Though she played well enough to reach the second round at a major for the first time since the 2020 US Open, the Romanian could not summon enough quality to match the confident Pegula in the pair's first career meeting.

Pegula broke her serve three times in the opening set to take the lead, and parlayed the momentum into a brisk run of form as she reeled off the first four games of the second set behind crisp, aggressive baseline play.

Tig avoided the shutout by holding for 1-4, then sat at her chair during the changeover mouthing the words to "I Will Survive," which emanated loudly from the loudspeakers inside Ashe.

The moment of levity didn't help Tig dance her way to a comeback, however. Pegula swiftly held serve and punched out a final break of serve, her sixth of the night, to close out the contest in one hour and 11 minutes.

Pegula next faces 26th-seeded Elina Svitolina for a spot in the fourth round next. The top American owns a 3-1 lifetime edge over the Ukrainian, and defeated her earlier this summer at Washington DC 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.The USTA put an announcement on the big screen explaining there would be no handshake between Ukraine's Svitolina and Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova due to 'global events™' It had the desired effect as there was no booing of either player, unlike at Wimbledon when Victoria Azarenka got it in the neck.

"Elina is so tough," Pegula said.

"I feel like every single match we play is always a really good battle. I feel like we play into each other's games, where we make each other play better and we always have good matches. It's great to see her back and playing at such a high level so quickly."

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