Jessica Pegula continues to struggle in the quarterfinals at majors

Jessica Pegula (David Iliff, Wikimedia Commons)

Heading into the quarterfinals of Wimbledon on the women’s side on Tuesday, one statistic stood out over all the rest. That was the fact that Jessica Pegula of Buffalo, New York, the fourth ranked player in the world, had a record of zero wins and five losses in grand slam quarterfinal action despite being ranked fourth in the world.

In her match against Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic, Pegula was in complete control in the third set leading four games to one, when once again she experienced a collapse. Vondrousova went on to win the next five games and won by a scoreline of 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.

A major reason why Vondrousova had so much success against Pegula was because of her serve. Vondrousova had seven aces compared to zero for Pegula. Vondrousova also had 24 winners compared to 16 for Pegula.

Pegula, who has been ranked as high as third in the world, has now reached six grand slam quarterfinals since 2021. In addition to her Tuesday loss, Pegula lost 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 to American Jennifer Brady at the 2021 Australian Open, 6-2, 6-0 to Australian Ashleigh Barty at the 2022 Australian Open, 6-3, 6-2 to Iga Swiatek of Poland at the 2022 French Open, 6-3, 7-6 to Swiatek at the 2022 United States Open, and 6-4, 6-1 to Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Australian Open.

Ironically, Pegula’s parents own the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League. The Bills were known throughout the 1990s as a good football team that simply could not get things done when the game mattered most. They reached four straight Super Bowls, and lost each time.

Vondrousova, who is 42nd in the world, will face another unseeded player in Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the semifinals on Thursday. This is Vondrousova’s second grand slam semifinal as she made the final of the French Open in 2019. Svitolina previously made the semifinals of Wimbledon and the United States Open in 2019. Svitolina has won three of five meetings head-to-head against Vondrousova. This will be their first meeting at a major and on grass.

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