Britain's Jack Draper (R) and Australia's Alex de Minaur shake hands after their men's singles quarter-final during the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York, U.S., September 4, 2024. /CFP
In the U.S. Open men's singles, Jack Draper made easy work of Alex de Minaur in straight sets to reach his maiden Grand Slam semifinal.
The 22-year-old is also now the first man in four-years to reach the last four at Flushing Meadows without dropping a set.
Draper made an aggressive start in his bid for a first victory over De Minaur. The Brit landed a couple of early breaks which set the tone for much of the match.
At his sixth set point, the 25th seed eventually claimed the opener 6-3 with a forehand winner. Draper continued that momentum to take the second 7-5. The third set was more straightforward.
Draper won his first ATP Tour title this past June in Stuttgart and has clearly built on that title winning performance.
He opened up a 5-2 lead over the Australian as he looked to put the match to bed, which he did not long later. He only dropped six points on serve before wrapping up a commanding 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 win.
He is also the first British male player to reach this stage of the tournament since Andy Murray in 2012, the year he won the title.
Draper will face either top-seed Jannik Sinner or 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev in Friday's semifinals. Both are on court now. For now though he's overwhelmed with how well he's played so far in New York.
"Yeah, was a solid match from my side. Obviously first match on Ashe, first quarter-final, was kind of a different experience. I've obviously played Alex (de Minaur) a few times and know he's a really tough competitor. You know, I thought it was just a solid match all around. Proud of my performance. There were some ups and downs during the match, but I felt in general I served pretty well, and, you know, I did a good job to come through,” Draper said.
Jessica Pegula of the United States celebrates after her victory over Iga Swiatek of Poland (not pictured) during the U.S. Open women's singles quarter-final in New York, U.S., September 4, 2024. /CFP
On the women's side, local New York hero Jessica Pegula pulled off a major upset by getting past world number one Iga Swiatek in straight sets and won a Grand Slam quarterfinal for the first time at her seventh try.
Swiatek served poorly in the first while Pegula did not have much trouble in that department. The American held to lead 4-love when Swiatek slipped and failed to return.
The sixth seed went on to take the opener 6-2 when Swiatek returned one into the net.
Before this, Swiatek had lost two service games across four matches at the tournament and didn't even face a single break point in any of her three previous contests. But that kind of form was clearly out the window in this one as Pegula got to work in the second. She held on to seal the win 6-2, 6-4
Pegula has now won 14 of her past 15 matches. Her first ever Grand Slam semifinal will be against the Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova a bit later today.
And that's because the unseeded Muchova eased past Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia. She took the first frame 6-1. Muchova lost to eventual champion Coco Gauff in the 2023 semifinals at Flushing Meadows, then missed nearly 10 months because of a wrist injury suffered during that tournament.
The 28-year-old returned to action in June just before Wimbledon and broke for a 4-3 lead when Haddad Maia returned long.
Muchova sealed the win 6-1, 6-4 and moved to her fourth career Grand Slam semifinal. Afterwards, she revealed that she was fighting a stomach bug during the match.
"Yeah, I'm fighting bug a little bit. I'm a little sick. I hope it didn't disturb anyone. It never happened to me before, but I really needed to go off the court when I get a chance to go. Again, I hope it didn't disturb her, didn't disturb the people. But I actually don't do these things, I don't like to do it, but I had no other choice than to take, yeah, use a bathroom. That's it,” Muchova said.