(Corrects paragraph 1 score to 6-2, not 6-3)
By Michael Church
MELBOURNE, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Jessica Pegula moved into the semi-finals of the Australian Open for the first time in her career on Wednesday, with a 6-2 7-6(1) win over fellow American and fourth seed Amanda Anisimova at Melbourne Park.
The sixth seed, who exited the competition at the quarter-finals stage in 2021, 2022 and 2023, will take on Elena Rybakina for a place in Saturday’s final after the Kazakh defeated Iga Swiatek earlier in the day.
“It’s awesome,” Pegula said of her progress to the last four. “I’ve been able to go deeper in the U.S. Open in the last couple of years, but here was the first slam that I broke through at.
“I was the three- and then four-time quarter-finalist. I was, ‘It’s got to be coming, I’ve got to get to the semi’.
“I feel like I play some good tennis here, I like the conditions and even matches I’ve lost here I’ve played well in so I’ve been waiting for the time when I could break through.”
Pegula raced into a 4-1 lead as a clearly frustrated Anisimova struggled in the early exchanges, surrendering two breaks of serve inside the opening five games to allow her compatriot to go on and claim the first set in 30 minutes.
Anisimova had shown signs of regaining her composure late in the opening set and built on those improvements to put Pegula under pressure, breaking her serve to go 5-3 up in the set only to double-fault in the next game to squander that advantage.
The pair traded breaks to take the second set to a tiebreak, where Pegula kept her cool to prevail over an increasingly agitated Anisimova.
(Reporting by Michael Church; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Shri Navaratnam)
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