Jessica Pegula knocks out Iga Swiatek to make US Open semis

World number one Iga Swiatek crashed out of the US Open as American Jessica Pegula finally ended her grand slam quarter-final hoodoo at the seventh attempt.

Swiatek had eyes on winning a second title in New York to cement her position as the top player in the women's game, but she was off-colour in a 6-1 6-4 defeat.

Pegula must have thought she was never going to get into a grand slam semi-final having lost her first six last-eight ties, going back to 2021, but she put that right in front of a partisan home crowd on Arthur Ashe.

She was solid and looked after her own business but, in truth, her victory was as much about Swiatek's erratic display as 41 of Pegula's 65 points came as a result of unforced errors.

The sixth seed will not be complaining and she hopes beating the Pole will be a good omen for the coming days as on the previous three occasions she has beaten Swiatek she went on to win the tournament.

"I have been here so many freaking times," she said on court. "I just kept losing, but to great players, players who went on to win the tournament.

"Finally, finally I can say I'm a grand slam semi-finalist.

"To do it against the number one in the world is crazy, I knew I could do it, I was able to take advantage of some things she wasn't doing very well early on and that carried through."

Waiting in the semi-final is Karolina Muchova, who overcame illness to continue her assault on the tournament.

The Czech received medical treatment and had to leave the court four times for comfort breaks, but she still did the business beating Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-1 6-4 to reach the last four for the second successive year.

She is still in the early stages of a comeback from a serious injury, where she spent 10 months on the sidelines