Jessica Pegula believes getting pregnant was a blessing for Elina Svitolina as it helped her ‘reset’

Jessica Pegula held off Svitolina in three sets to book a spot in the fourth round.

Jessica Pegula believes getting pregnant was a blessing for Elina Svitolina as it helped her ‘reset’

Elina Svitolina and Jessica Pegula (Credits : Ben Solomon/Mubadala Citi DC Open)

World no.3 Jessica Pegula got the better of the 26th seed Elina Svitolina to advance to the fourth round of her home Grand Slam event. The no.1 ranked American defeated the Ukrainian 6-4,4-6,6-2 to set-up an all-American clash in the fourth round. With the win, Pegula has improved her head-to-head against Svitolina to 4-1.

In 2022, Svitolina took a break from professional tennis to give birth to her first child with Gael Monfils. Making a comeback in April this year, Svitolina has been largely successful on her return to tennis. The Ukrainian has won a WTA tour title, reached the Quarter-final of Roland Garros and the semi-final of Wimbledon. She got the the better of the world no.1 Iga Swiatek on her way to the semi-final finish at Wimbledon.

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Pegula believes that the break helped the 28-year old Ukrainian with her game. “The last few times I played her before she had her baby, she seemed like a little run down, I feel like. So, I don’t know, maybe her getting pregnant was good timing for her to go back and reset. I don’t know, sometimes that’s what you need. That’s what players do,” Pegula told the press at the US Open.

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After her impressive performance at the Wimbledon, Svitolina returned to the top 30 rising close to 50 positions up in the rankings.

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Jessica Pegula looking forward to the clash against her American counterpart Madison Keys

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Arthur Ashe Stadium (Credits : USTA)

In a clash of American women’s tennis heavyweights the 3rd seed Jessica Pegula is scheduled to face Madison keys in the 4th round of US Open 2023 at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday. 17th seed Madison Keys was a 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 comeback winner over No.14 Liudmila Samsonova. The American duo have played just once, with Pegula besting the 2017 US Open runner-up in straight sets in a tournament in San Diego last September.

Talking about the upcoming clash in an on-court interview, Pegula said, “We’ve been in the same section every single tournament the last 3 or 4 tournaments. We were like ‘I think the world just wants us to play’ so I’m glad we get to put on a show for you guys.. it’s gonna be really tough.”

If Pegula gets the better of Keys, she will equal her best performance at the US Open. She was defeated by the eventual champion Iga Swiatek in the Quarter-finals of last year’s US Open. The American no.1 has failed to get past the Quarter-final stage in Grand Slams.

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