Pegula cruised to a 6-2, 7-6 victory over her compatriot to reach her first Australian Open semi-final and third Grand Slam singles semi-final of her career. She is now the only American woman remaining in the women’s singles draw and will face No. 5 Elena Rybakina to reach the final.
In a showdown between talented Americans, Pegula was the steadier hand from start to finish. Especially at the beginning and the end. Anisimova’s body language was not very good. Pegula broke it to open the match, and the 24-year-old smacked her racket and screamed in her coaches’ box at the end of the decisive tiebreaker, which Pegula won 7-1.Advertisement
Overall, Anisimova committed 44 unforced errors to Pegula’s 21, plus seven double faults, and she simply wasn’t hitting the type of aggressive shots to make up for that discrepancy.
The second set was at least more competitive, with both players exchanging two breaks, but Anisimova quickly fell apart as the tiebreaker progressed.
The victory is a long-awaited breakthrough for Pegula, 31, who was eliminated before the fourth round in both 2024 and 2025 in Melbourne. She has a formidable road ahead of her, however, as Rybakina has not lost a set in this tournament and dominated No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the hours leading up to the Pegula match.
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And whoever wins that match will likely face number one Aryna Sabalenka in the final. It was Sabalenka who defeated Pegula in the only Grand Slam final of her career at the 2024 US Open.