An All-American clash between No. 6 Jessica Pegula and No. 4 Amanda Anisimova at the Australian Open ended up being pretty one-sided.
Pegula cruised to a 6-2, 7-6 win over her compatriot to reach her first career Australian Open semifinal and third career Grand Slam semifinal in singles. She is now the only American woman remaining in the women’s singles draw and will face No. 5 Elena Rybakina on Thursday for a trip to the final.
In a matchup of talented Americans, Pegula was the steadier hand from start to finish. Especially at the start and finish. Anisimova’s body language wasn’t great as Pegula broke her to open the match, and the 24-year-old was slamming her racket and yelling at her coaches’ box at the end of the decisive tiebreaker, which Pegula won 7-1.
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Overall, Anisimova committed 44 unforced errors to Pegula’s 21, plus seven double faults, and just wasn’t landing the kind 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 came apart quickly as the tiebreaker progressed.
The win is a long-awaited breakthrough for the 31-year-old Pegula, who was bounced before the fourth round in both 2024 and 2025 at Melbourne. She has a formidable path ahead of her, though, as Rybakina hasn’t dropped a set this tournament and dominated No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the hours before Pegula’s match.
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And whoever wins that match seems likely to face No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final. It was Sabalenka who defeated Pegula in the latter’s lone career Grand Slam final at the 2024 U.S. Open.
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