Jessica Pegula is through to the quarter-finals of the US Open for the third time in her career. As the No. 4 seed and last year’s runner-up, it shouldn’t be surprising to see Pegula make it this far. But, as she put it herself, she “felt terrible” coming into the tournament after suffering a string of early losses at big tournaments.

After lifting the Bad Homburg title in June, Pegula went 2-4 in matches leading up to the US Open, including a shock first-round defeat at Wimbledon. And she has now revealed that she even halted a pre-tournament practice session after getting “killed” by world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who beat her in the final 12 months ago.

Pegula became the first player to book her spot in the US Open quarter-final on Sunday, breezing past countrywoman Ann Li 6-1 6-2 in under an hour. Afterwards, she told the crowd on Arthur Ashe Stadium: “I wasn’t playing great coming into here, so, to be honest, to even make the second week was a goal.”

It’s been a tough few weeks for the 31-year-old. She lost in the first round of Wimbledon and the Washington Open. At the Canadian Open, where she was the two-time defending champion, she won just one match before bowing out. And it was the same story in Cincinnati.

Now, she’s won four matches in Flushing Meadows without dropping a set. But Pegula didn’t immediately feel comfortable when she returned to the US Open, as she gave up in the middle of a brutal practice session.

“I felt terrible coming into this tournament, honestly. I had a practice Wednesday, and I think I hit with Sabalenka. She killed me. I was playing terrible,” the world No. 4 confessed.

“Then we went out for a second hour, and I stopped halfway through the hour and was, like, I’m done, like, this isn’t good. I don’t know why I’m out here practising.

“It was hard, because that was the day after the mixed finished, so we were switching to different balls, and I was a little frustrated. The day was really cold and windy. I was, like, Yeah, I’m done for today. So I kind of walked off the court, like, not very happy.”

Pegula took a much-needed break that evening, and it seemed to be the turning point.

She continued: “I went and did an escape room with my friends and had, like, two drinks and was, like, I need to just chill and stop getting so frustrated and overthinking all these practices.

“But, I mean, I played well in the mixed, so I think that helped. Besides that bad day, yeah, I hadn’t really been playing some good tennis, and I didn’t even feel like I was practising very well for the last few weeks. It’s been really tough.”

Last year’s finalist has now rediscovered her confidence after storming into the quarter-finals without dropping a set. “I’m really happy that today I felt a lot more like myself on court, which I think was the most important,” she added.

Pegula will now face either Barbora Krejcikova or Taylor Townsend as she looks to continue her run in New York.

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