"It's different playing overseas, people don't make the connection as often as they do here" - Jessica Pegula
Jessica Pegula has had a fairly good season to date. She made the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and Roland Garros, semifinals of the Miami Open and Canadian Open, and finals of the Madrid Open. She is currently ranked eighth in the world and has progressed to the quarterfinals of the ongoing US Open.
While Pegula isn't a household name across the world like Serena Williams, she isn't an unknown entity in the United States - for reasons beyond her tennis prowess.
Her father Terrence Pegula is the co-owner of Pegula Sports and Entertainment, which owns a host of sports teams in the USA - Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabres, Buffalo Bandits, Rochester Knighthawks, and Rochester Americans, to name a few,
Speaking at a post-match press conference at the US Open, Jessica shed light on the difference in her experiences of playing at home and abroad.
"It's definitely different playing overseas, I feel people don't make the connection as often as they do here. For me, I mean, there is a lot of people from Buffalo that are kind of all over the place, you always find somebody that's a Bills and Sabres fan. And to me I think I have more embraced it and find it kind of fun and cool that these people, because there's not a lot of tennis in Buffalo, know nothing about tennis but they will come and watch the match in Cincinnati or here or wherever, just because they are like a fan of the teams," Jessica Pegula said.
"So I think it's cool that way that I can kind of embrace and show tennis maybe a little bit more to Buffalo and give them something to root for because they definitely like getting behind their sports team. It's been a fun experience," she added.
Jessica Pegula sets up US Open quarterfinal clash with top seed Iga Swiatek
Jessica Pegula made clear her title credentials on Friday with a straight-sets win over 21st seed Petra Kvitova in the fourth round of the US Open. She needed just an hour and 13 minutes to register an emphatic 6-3, 6-2 win against the former World No. 2.
The American looks to be in fine form at Flushing Meadows this year. Having never beaten a seeded player in her home Grand Slam, never beaten Kvitova, and never reached the round of 16 in New York, Pegula set all those records right in one fell swoop at a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Next up for the World No. 8 is top seed Iga Swiatek, who came from a set down to defeat Jule Niemeier 2-6, 6-4, 6-0 at the Louis Armstrong Stadium on the same day.
Swiatek leads Pegula 2-1 in the head-to-head. They have met twice this year, with the Pole winning both encounters in straight sets - in the Miami Open semifinals and the Roland Garros quarterfinals.