Jessica Pegula keeps getting better with age.
The 31-year-old Buffalo native made history while beating Amanda Anisimova 6-2, 7-6 (1) on Wednesday in the Australian Open quarterfinals at Melbourne.
Pegula became the first woman in Open Era (since 1968) to reach her first three major semifinals after turning 30.
Pegula, the event’s sixth seed, will oppose fifth-seeded Elena Rybakina in the semifinals on Thursday. Rybakina took advantage of an error-filled effort by second-seeded Iga Swiatek and rolled to a 7-5, 6-1 quarterfinal win.
After Pegula cruised through the first set against Anisimova, a 24-year-old New Jersey native who was seeded fourth, neither player broke serve through the first seven games of the second set.
Anisimova got the break to go up 5-3, but she couldn’t serve out the set as Pegula broke back. After another break by Pegula for a 6-5 edge, Anisimova responded in kind to force a tiebreaker.
Anisimova won the opening point of the tiebreaker before Pegula reeled off seven straight points to advance.
Pegula said, “I was like, ‘It’s got to be coming, you know. The next round, I’ve got to get to the semi,’ because I feel like I play some really good tennis here and I like the conditions. And I’ve always felt like, even matches I’ve lost here, that I’ve played well. So I’ve been waiting for the time where I could kind of break through.”
Pegula and Rybakina have split six career matches, with the Kazakhstani player having taken their latest clash in WTA Finals last fall.
A win by Pegula on Thursday would send her to her second career major final. She lost to Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka in the 2024 U.S. Open title match.
Swiatek, a 24-year-old Polish player who has six Grand Slam championships, committed 25 unforced errors on Wednesday while hitting just 10 winners. Rybakina, 26, had a steadier ground game with 25 winners and 19 unforced errors.
“I’m really pleased with the win,” Rybakina said in her on-court interview. “We know each other pretty well, and I was just trying to stay aggressive. In the first set, the first serve wasn’t working for both of us, so we were trying to step in on the second serve and put pressure on each other. In the second set, I just started to play more free, serve better, and I’m really happy with the win.”
Rybakina is through to a major semifinal for the first time since she reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 2024. She has made two career Grand Slam finals, prevailing at Wimbledon in 2022 and losing the Australian Open title match in 2023.
After Swiatek and Rybakina exchanged service breaks in the opening two games, Rybakina saved three break points at 1-1, then broke serve in the 12th game to take the set.
Rybakina won the first three games of the second set and cruised to the finish, never facing a break point in the set.
–Field Level Media
