Pegula powers past Cirstea as she continues to eye first US Open title

[p]The 2024 runner-up kept alive her bid ‌for a maiden major title, overcoming a resurgent [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/cirstea-sorana/fBPsm3Iq/"]‌Cirstea[/a] who had enjoyed a late-career renaissance, reaching ‌a career-high top-20 ranking, before retiring at the end of the season.[/p][embed guid="fa2c98e4-4943-4db8-b2e9-60bec6d71f84" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmjliG2KeiQ" social-type="youtube" /][p]There was little between the two ‌on serve in a scrappy opening ⁠set, with only ‌three holds between them. [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/pegula-jessica/KdojxrAR/"]Pegula[/a] repeatedly handed Cirstea openings, ​including when she double-faulted while serving for the set, and then squandered four ​set points before finally converting the fifth as the 16th seed dropped serve again.[/p][p]Pegula, who had ⁠needed three ​sets to overcome fellow U.S. Open finalist [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/fernandez-leylah-annie/8EI3pJOd/"]Leylah Fernandez[/a] in the previous round, gained the upper hand in a second set that followed a ‌similar pattern, with the American securing one more break than Cirstea to create the difference.[/p][image alt="Pegula-Cirstea matchup stats" id="8e547531-8516-4627-9cbc-727db8edd5a4" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="bea74f05-bd84-4c23-a2f9-6fc66d75379b" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /][p]The victory was Pegula's second over Cirstea in three weeks after she edged the Romanian in the Cincinnati Open Round of 16.[/p][p][b]"I have a lot of respect for her. She's such a great competitor,"[/b] Pegula said on the Louis Armstrong ‌court.[/p][p][b]"We actually hadn't played in a while up ​until the last few weeks. They were ‌two really tough matches. It was definitely really intense."[/b][/p][p]Pegula will face the winner of the late-night clash between compatriot [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/navarro-emma/WxLdKcAs/"]Emma Navarro[/a] and Russia's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kalinskaya-anna/KGdcQnEf/"]Anna Kalinskaya[/a] for a place in ⁠her third straight ⁠U.S. Open semi-final.[/p][embed guid="75a96cbd-a758-4c5d-b007-df17137ab123" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu7W9X8QLR8" social-type="youtube" /]