Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff were left on the wrong side of two very different US Open semifinal defeats, but both walked away with plenty to process after their campaigns in New York came to an end.
Pegula was left almost at a loss for words after Aryna Sabalenka produced what the American described as one of her best performances of the season, while Gauff admitted the pain of another Grand Slam exit was still fresh after Elena Rybakina fought back to beat her in three sets.
Sabalenka stormed past Pegula 7-5, 6-2, with the American unable to find a way through the Belarusian’s relentless serving, returning and baseline game.
“I think that is probably the best match she’s played this year. I thought her level was insanely high,” Pegula said.
The American even joked that she wondered what had fired Sabalenka up.
“I don’t know who pissed her off today. Hopefully it wasn’t me, totally; it might’ve been,” Pegula said. “I don’t know; she played insane. She played at a super high level.”
Pegula felt she had played well enough to stay in the contest but simply could not match Sabalenka when the biggest points arrived.
“I didn’t play bad. I think I’ve actually played worse against her before, but I think that level was the highest I’ve seen from her, considering I don’t think I played bad at all,” she said.
The World No. 3 also suggested Sabalenka had come into the semifinal determined not to let her dictate the rallies.
“She doesn’t want to ever feel like the other person’s really dictating,” Pegula said. “She’s much better, I think, playing her first one-two strike tennis: serve, return, return, next ball.”
‘It hurts’: Gauff on US Open heartbreak
Gauff, meanwhile, experienced a very different kind of semifinal heartbreak.
The American took the opening set against Rybakina but surrendered her advantage as the Kazakh fought back for a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory in two hours and eight minutes.
“Right now it sucks,” Gauff said after the match. “My dad came up and said, ‘You have accomplished so many things this summer,’ and I just said, ‘I don’t care about the summer.'”
The 21-year-old, however, knows she is still giving herself regular opportunities to compete for the biggest prizes.
“It is the goal. I want to be a consistent player, and I want to give myself as many opportunities as I can to lift the trophy,” Gauff said.
“But it hurts. It’s all great, but I think the competitor in me is like, this is the tournament that I want to perform at. I did perform, but it’s the tournament you want to come out with the win.”
Gauff said she would take the defeat as another learning experience, pointing to the progress she has made while stressing that she still has time to grow.
“I’m just excited to keep putting in the work for another year or another two years and see where I’m at at 24 or 25,” she said. “I want to see where my game can take me, and hopefully it can be on the winning end of matches like this.”
While Gauff looked towards the future, Pegula could only marvel at what Sabalenka had produced on the night.
“We joked with her team. We’re like, do you think, like, do you like us? Like, we’re good people,” Pegula said with a smile.
The American even wondered whether her previous victory over Sabalenka in Berlin, which included a 6-0 third set, had given the defending champion extra motivation.
“Maybe that’s why she was pissed off at me today,” Pegula joked.
Their exits leave the US Open title fight to Sabalenka and Rybakina, with the Belarusian chasing a third straight crown and Rybakina playing for her first US Open title and the World No.1 ranking.