American Jessica Pegula reaches 7th Grand Slam quarterfinal at U.S. Open

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, an American whose parents own the NFL's Buffalo Bills and NHL's Buffalo Sabres, is on quite a run at the moment, having won 13 of her past 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.

"I feel like there's been more pressure this year, because I did so well coming into this tournament," the 30-year-old Pegula said. "I want to keep working my way and hopefully bringing my best tennis for the later rounds this time."

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 enjoyed a breakthrough 2023, getting to the final in Paris and the semifinals in New York, before needing surgery on her right wrist in October, sidelining her for 10 months.

"This was my worst and most serious injury, I would say. But, I mean, I love the sport, so in my head, I was like, 'I will do everything I could to [get] better and try.' And here I am today," said Muchova, whose U.S. Open ended a year ago with a loss to eventual champion Coco Gauff. "I'm just a really happy kid 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