Tennis News: Home tennis player Jessica Pegula put in a dominant performance to defeat compatriot Sofia Kenin in the second round of the 2026 US Open season.
The third seed beat the 2020 Australian Open champion, Kenin, 6-3, 6-1 in just 56 minutes, giving him the right to advance to the third round of the US Open for the seventh time in a row.
The tennis player, who will rise to world No. 1 for the first time in her career if she wins her first Grand Slam title and Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina loses before the semifinals, is now 47-12 on the season and is even ahead with a 5-2 head to head against Kenin.
The encounter was the most lopsided of all their meetings, with their first four matches, taking place between the 2016 and 2021 seasons, all going to three sets.
The champions in Charleston earlier this season had won their last three meetings in straight sets, but now for the first time she managed to limit Kenin’s tally to under eight games.
“Every game we’ve had over the seasons has always been very tough,” admitted Pegula. “Sonya has often made things difficult for me in the past, she is a great player and a champion. I just tried to stay focused on what I had to do and luckily I was able to play quite efficiently this time.”
The 2024 US Open runner-up will next face the 2021 season runner-up, Leylah Annie Fernandez, who had not won a Grand Slam match in the 2026 season before this week, but she beat Thai national Mananchaya Sawangkaew 6-4, 6-1, a win that sent her into the third round in New York for the third time.
The third seed is 3-1 in head to head against Canadian Annie Fernandez with all their meetings taking place in outdoor hard-court tournaments held in North America. The third seed won their last meeting in Miami earlier this season.
“In my opinion, he is a difficult opponent to face,” commented Pegula when discussing Fernandez. “His playing style is a bit unusual, he likes to use his forehand and hits the ball very quickly when the ball has just bounced.”
“When he’s playing well, he can be a very difficult opponent to beat. I’ve been in situations where I feel like I’ve played well against him, but sometimes if he’s in top form and we start the game a bit slow, he can play very aggressively, making it difficult for us to deal with him.”
“It’s difficult. Apart from that, as a left-handed tennis player, I think returning serve is always a challenge in itself. There are definitely things I need to work on and fix and hopefully I can play well when I face him in the next round.”
Article Tag: us open, jessica pegula, sofia kenin, leylah annie fernandez
Published by Ligaolahraga.com at https://www.ligaolahraga.com/tenis/hasil-us-open-jessica-pegula-bantai-sofia-kenin-dalam-time-cepat