Jessica Pegula is back in the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open after a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Diana Shnaider on Monday, her seventh trip to that round at a Grand Slam tournament. Now comes the hard part: Pegula is 0-6 in major quarterfinals over her career.
The No. 6-seeded Pegula, a 30-year-old American whose parents own the NFL’s Bills and NHL’s Sabres, is on quite a run at the moment, having won 13 of her last 14 matches, all on hard courts. That included her second consecutive title in Canada and an appearance in the final at the Cincinnati Open, where she lost to No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka.
Also returning to the quarterfinals was Karolina Muchova, a 6-3, 6-3 winner over No. 5 Jasmine Paolini, the runner-up at the French Open and Wimbledon this season. Muchova next plays No. 22 Beatriz Haddad Maia, who got past 2018 Australian Open champ Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to become the first woman from Brazil in the U.S. Open quarterfinals since Maria Bueno in 1968.
Haddad Maia, 28, was given a 10-month ban after failing a doping test in 2019. She was a semifinalist at the French Open last year but hadn’t been past the second round at Flushing Meadows until now.
In men’s action Monday, No. 25 Jack Draper became the first British man to reach the quarterfinals in New York since the recently retired Andy Murray did it in 2016. Draper, who exited in the fourth round a year ago, will appear in his first Slam quarterfinal thanks to a 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 win against unseeded Tomas Machac.
No. 5 Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 champion who’s the only past men’s winner still in the bracket, overwhelmed beat Nuno Borges 6-0, 6-1, 6-3 in a victory delayed for six minutes — along with every other match going on at the time — because of a fire alarm in the building that houses the electronic line-calling system.
College football: Georgia edge rusher Mykel Williams has a Grade 2 left ankle sprain and is questionable to play in Saturday’s game against FCS opponent Tennessee Tech, Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart announced.
NFL: 49ers rookie WR Ricky Pearsall was placed on the non-football injury list after he was shot in the chest Saturday during an attempted robbery attempt in San Francisco. With the designation, the 23-year-old Pearsall will be sidelined for at least four games. Pearsall was upgraded to fair condition on Sunday before being released from San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center.
WNBA: Angel Reese became the WNBA’s single-season rebounding leader during the Sky’s 79-74 loss to the host Lynx on Sunday. Reese finished with 17 points and 19 rebounds for her 24th double-double, a league rookie record. She has 418 rebounds in 32 games for an average of 13.1, with her total surpassing Sylvia Fowles’ record of 404 in 2018. The 6-foot-3 Reese also broke the record for offensive rebounds with 165, passing Yolanda Griffiths, who had 162 in 2001. ... Arike Ogunbowale made nine 3-pointers during the Wings’ 100-93 loss to the visiting Fever, tying the WNBA’s single-game record. Ogunbowale, the All-Star Game MVP, joined Kelsey Mitchell (2019) and Jewell Loyd (2023) for most 3-pointers in a game.