Jessica Pegula averts late danger to thwart Victoria Azarenka at US Open

Jessica Pegula has thwarted Victoria Azarenka to reach the fourth round (Last 16) at the 2025 US Open seeing off the multiple Grand Slam champion and still hasn't dropped a set yet at Flushing Meadows.

Pegula won through 6-1, 7-5 and dominated throughout until the latter end of the second set when she had the win in the palm of her hand as Azarenka suddenly gave herself a chance to force a decider. But it wasn't to be. No doubt Pegula would breathe a sigh of relief as a player who often gets embroiled in battles. But not this time at the US Open.

She raced through the first set pretty easily breaking straight away to go 1-0 up and she consolidated not losing a point until midway through Azarenka's aim to hold serve. Pegula broke again though with Azarenka's putting up very little resistance ironically until the last two games of the set.

She had break points at 4-1 as she aimed to hit back and wasn't going to give up the set that easily as Azarenka saved four break points before losing on the fifth. Pegula lost serve in the second set as she went 4-2 down albeit she had the chance to break to make it 3-3. Azarenka though lost serve at 4-4 only to hit back again after two lengthy games and neither player giving an inch.

Pegula broke again for 5-5 before finally consolidating and then she broke to seal the win emphatically as she got out of dodge city before it became a real battle.

"I just tried to focus on going back to my strategy, things that were working well in the first set. I felt like I could still dig out the set for sure. I moved well, scrambled well, we train together in Florida so we know each other’s games so well. I could tell she was struggling physically so I wanted to keep her moving," said Pegula post match.

"I thought I moved really well. I thought I scrambled really well. I wanted to kind of make the match physical. Like you said, we’ve trained together a lot in Florida, so we know each other’s games so well. We’ve played quite a bit, and I could tell she was struggling a little physically, so I wanted to keep her moving. I wanted to keep going after my shots and playing aggressive, and that’s just what I tried to execute at the end."

"Last year this place was really special—I mean, it’s always special—but especially last year I had some amazing moments right here on this court. To be able to play my first three rounds already in Ashe and have your support is amazing. My results weren’t that great the last couple of months, so being able to turn it around really quickly was awesome."

Last year Pegula also took the subway and she was asked what kind of a rider she is whether she wears headphones and while she couldn't hear, she did touch on it."The subway was something really fun I got to do last year. I ended up doing it in Paris at Roland Garros too, which was pretty funny. It’s honestly hilarious how many people really liked it. Literally, workers around the grounds have come up to me saying, “I saw you take the Metro in Paris—that’s so awesome.” I just feel like it’s a really fun way to connect with the city. I did it once this year for something with Adidas, which was really fun, so maybe I’ll take it again—maybe even on the way back today."