The French Open champion will face Aryna Sabalenka for a place in Saturday’s final after making the last four of a Grand Slam for the third time in 2022.
“It will be a very tough match. There will be fast serves and heavy hitting, like tonight,” Swiatek said.
that feeling when you’re lucky enough to go to bed before 3am https://t.co/mycv2bXBAn
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) 1662600090000
In an error-filled quarter-final on Wednesday, there were 13 breaks of serve and 61 unforced errors combined.
“It means a lot to be in the semi-finals for the first time,” Swiatek said. “I’m very happy because I worked very hard but kept my expectations low.
“It was a very close game. I tried to push her away, but she was putting pressure on me, so that’s what happened in the tiebreaker.”
Swiatek overcame the first break of the match in game five to pick up 16 of the next 18 points to win the first set in 38 minutes.
The 21-year-old Pole and the eighth seeded USA each traded three breaks of serve in the first eight games in a messy second set.
Four for the 🏆 https://t.co/iTm2saZfeG
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) 1662599933000
It was the Roland-Garros champion who cut the seventh break on a clean cord to give herself the opportunity to serve for the match.
Pegula, eighth in the standings, woke up to stay alive in the competition before a double fault on a break point in game 11 gave Swiatek a second chance to secure a place in the semi-finals.
The top seed fell short again as Pegula sealed the 10th break to send the set into a tiebreak which the Pole dominated to pick up a third win over the American this year.