US Open: Pegula hopes to stop the big-serving Keys in round of 16

Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys kept noticing their names near each other in tournament draws this summer.

“We were like, ‘I think the world just wants us to play,’” Pegula said.

At the US Open, they finally will on Monday.

Pegula beat Elina Svitolina 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 on Saturday, setting up a fourth-round matchup against the No. 17-seeded Keys.

Pegula, the No. 3 seed, is still trying to advance beyond the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament. First, she'll have to get by the 2017 runner-up in Flushing Meadows who also needed three sets to move on.

Keys came back to eliminate No. 14 Liudmila Samsonova 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.

Pegula and Keys could have met early in both Montreal and Cincinnati, but Keys had to withdraw with a hip injury in Canada — where Pegula won the title — and lost her opening match in Ohio. So they've still played only once, a victory for Pegula last year in San Diego, although the Americans sometimes hit together.

“Every time I practice with her, she just has the ability to just hit aces and rip forehands and backhands, play a really big power game,” Pegula said. “It will be interesting to see how smart I can play and what I can do to combat that.”

Pegula found herself in a tough test with Svitolina, the No. 26 seed from Ukraine who reached the US Open semifinals in 2019. It was tied 2-2 in the third set before the 29-year-old from Florida broke serve to start a run of four straight games to win the match.

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