Korean American tennis player moves to US Open semi-finals

Jessica Pegula enroute to the US Open semi-finals.

One dream continues as another dream comes to an end at the US Open.

Korean American Jessica Pegula makes it to the quarter-rfinals but crowd favorite 45-year old Venus Williams and Filipino Canadian teammate Leylah Fernandez

Taking care of business Tuesday morning, No. 4 seed and last year's US Open finalist Jessica Pegula avoided any potential drama and eased past Barbora Krejcikova, 6-3, 6-3 to advance to the semifinals in Flushing Meadows for the second straight year.

No. 4 seed Pegula,whose mother is from Korea, was born in Buffalo, NY. Her parents are  the owners of the NFL's Buffalo Bills and NHL's Buffalo Sabres, showed exactly why she’s made eight Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances in just the last four years.

“I think I’ve been playing some really good tennis,” Pegula said on-court after the bout. “I’ve just been playing very solid, I’ve been having very good, quick starts, so I really wanted to do that today, especially against someone like her who’s very dangerous. And even at the end there it got really tight. She hit a couple really good returns when I was serving up 4-1 and then we all saw what she did against Taylor, so yeah, I was happy that we’re done [with the match].”

The results were not as favorable for Fernandez  and Williams who played Tuesday afternoon against  the No. 1 seed of Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend. The latter team has been together a little less than two years but the pair has already collected Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon in 2024 and the Australian Open this year.

Fernandez and Williams

In contrast, the Fernandez-Williams pair was put together onlly two days before the start of this year's US Open and not even seeded.

Teamwork developed over time was an advantage for Siniakova and Townsend who went on to win the contest, 6-1. 6-2, in only 55 minutes.

Thw team of Venus Williams, left and Leylah Fernandez was the surprise of the US Open.

Siniakova and Townsend were in control throughout the game. Townsend was extremely effective at the net and neither Williams or Fernandez could handle her serve, hitting the return out-of bounds, into the net or right to their opponent.

"Seeing Venus playing on court for joy just kind of brought me back as to why I started playing tennis," said the 22-year old Fernandez.

Even Townsend, who usually has the crowd on her side, had to step aside for Williams, who has won four US Open titles, two in singles and two in doubles.

"Growing up watching Venus and Serena, for me and my sister, we wanted to be like them. It was an honour to share the court with her," said the US's Townsend.

Crowd favorite Williams, who was visibly emotional after exiting the singles competition in the first round, was all smiles as she soaked up the standing ovation from the crowd.

"I'm really happy with the way that we played today," said Townsend. "Especially playing opponents that are that tough and are able to kind of make adjustments on the fly, and Venus is a legend and understands and knows how to win and figure things out when things aren't going her way. And Leylah the same. She always is a fighter.

"It really made me very proud, and I'm sure Kat as well, of the way we were able to stay solid from start to finish."

Tomorrow (Sept. 3) Japan's Naomi Osaka, who holds dual citiznship for Japan and the US, will face off against Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk. 

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