FCI Staff Writer Sacramento 
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September 5, 2023,
Her frustration continues.
The world’s number three, Jessica Pegula was out hit and pushed around by fellow American Madison Keys 6-1, 6-3 in the fourth round, at the 2023 US Open.
When Femcompetitor Magazine (femcompetitor.com) previously featured American tennis star Jessica Pegula, during the 2023 Australian Open, the thinking was, this time could be different.
This time feels different.
There was no point in printing an article like that this time, before, during or after the 2023 US Open.
In fact, it felt like more of the same.
Just look up at the ceiling.
Jessica can’t seem to paint it. Even with a ladder.
Here are the reasons why Femcompetitor Magazine said it before. It was as though the sea parted for the American star, before and during, the 2023 Australian Open.
On January 22, 2023 they posted, “The dominos are falling and, most important, falling American Jessica Pegula’s way.
Iga Swiatek is gone. In straight sets.
As reported by ESPN, “A 6-4, 6-4 loss to Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the Australian Open’s fourth round Sunday made Swiatek wonder whether she needs to reassess her outlook.”
It is only one tournament. Though, compared to what she has recently accomplished, we can understand why she would see this loss as a major catastrophe.
She is currently ranked world No. 1 by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA).
She was the betting favorite to win this Grand Slam Down Under.
Iga is a three-time major singles champion, having won the French Open in 2020 and 2022 and the US Open in 2022. She is the first player representing Poland to win a major singles title. She has won a total of 11 WTA Tour-level titles.
2022 was an incredible year for Iga, by anyone’s standards.
It all appeared to come so effortlessly. Smoothly. In 2022 she won two Grand Slam trophies, eight titles overall, a 37-match winning streak, and seemed perched in concrete at the number one position.
Still is.
Coco Gauff went down.
The loss left her in tears.
As posted by CNN, “Coco Gauff broke down in tears after her straight sets defeat in the fourth round of the Australian Open on Sunday, while fellow American Jessica Pegula progressed to the quarterfinals. The 18-year-old Gauff lost 7-5 6-3 to Latvian Jelena Ostapenko on Margaret Court Arena and could not hide her disappointment when talking to reporters about the match afterwards.”
As much as Jessica Pegula was the shining star headed to the finish line, Coco was quietly making her way there as well.
Under the radar but with very high expectations.
For good reason.
Coco has a career-high ranking of world No. 4 in singles, reached on October 24, 2022, and world No. 1 in doubles, achieved on August 15, 2022.
Ms. Gauff won her first WTA Tour singles title at the 2019 Linz Open aged 15, making her the youngest singles title-holder on the Tour since 2004.
She has won three WTA Tour singles titles and six doubles titles – three partnering with Caty McNally and three with, drum roll please, Jessica Pegula.
We thought there was a possibility that Coco and Jessica would meet in a knock down drag out affair of symbolic tennis siblings.
Not to be.
Coco rose to prominence with a win over Venus Williams in the opening round of 2019 Wimbledon. Her greatest accomplishment on the hard courts was surging into the quarter finals of the 2022 US Open.
She’s only 18, so she has plenty of time to make her move, like Jessica, to get past the quarter finals of a Grand Slam on the hard courts.
Unfortunately for Coco, this won’t be the year.
Her fellow American Danielle Collins flamed out too.
We privately had high expectations of Danielle.
Hard hitting, yelling, screaming and major fist pumping, she pounded her way into the historic 2022 Australian Open finals against Ash Barty before the former champion defeated her, then retired from tennis.
A repeat performance would not be a surprise but Danielle does have a tendency to be inconsistent and unfortunately plagued with injuries.
Another fellow American, Madison Keys, has been slayed. Again.
If there was ever a player who keeps falling short of high expectations, it’s Madison.
Granted she has achieved much.
Madison has been ranked as high as world No. 7 by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), a ranking she first achieved in October 2016.
The American luminary has played in one Grand Slam tournament final at the 2017 US Open, competed at the 2016 WTA Finals, and was a semifinalist at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
She has won six WTA tournaments, five of which were at the Premier level, and she achieved her biggest title at the 2019 Cincinnati Open, a Premier 5 event.
What is missing from that resume?
A Grand Slam title.
She certainly is capable of it.
Madison is known for having a fast serve and one of the most powerful forehands in the game.
She has used her aggressive playing style to become one of the leaders of the next generation of American tennis alongside Sloane Stephens.
Sloane was her opponent in the 2017 US Open Finals.
Boy does that seem like a long time ago now.
Former US Open champion Sloane Stephens never really got started. Now she is gone too.
They’ve all been defeated and Jessica didn’t have to hit one volley to send them packing.
Jessica is sending a lot of other players packing on her own as she has blasted her way in the quarter finals of the Australian Open for the third time in a row.
Somehow though, this feels different.
She is playing more confidently and, to our recent posted concern, playing with more power.
We noted in her previous two matches Down Under, she hit no more than 3 aces.
Against Krejcikova, she didn’t hit any but won anyway.
As long as all roads lead to Rome, get there however you can.
She doesn’t have to serve a lot of aces as long as she can blast those ground strokes and blast them she did against the number 20th seed Barbora Krejcikova.”
And yet, when Jessica met the veteran warhorse in Victoria Azarenka, in the quarter finals, the Belarusian champion pounded Jessica 6-4 6-1 in just one hour and 37 minutes.
Previously, Jessica could never seem to get past the quarter finals at a major Grand Slam.
Now, at this 2023 US Open, she couldn’t even get past the round of 16.
As we observed her match against Madison, it was the usual suspects that sent her packing.
A lack of consistent power.
Only one ace on her serve.
Playing to her opponent’s game and strengths instead of forcing her opponent to play to her strengths.
Giving up without a sustained fight.
It is so obvious when Jessica becomes deflated.
Why not force Madison to play to her game of steadiness? There is a reason why Madison has struggled since her appearance in the 2017 US Open Finals.
Against Madison, a player known to have blank spots of increased unforced errors, Jessica appeared to try and hit harder and unfortunately made a lot of unforced errors.
When Jessica defeated a very good player in Elina Svitolina, in the third round, we appreciated her beating a top player, but this time didn’t feel different.
And it wasn’t.
Ranked a mighty number 3 in the world for some time, Jessica has a line that she hasn’t crossed in a Grand Slam.
A semi-final ceiling, yet to be painted.
~ ~ ~
OPENING PHOTO Leonard-Zhukovsky-Shutterstock-photo-credit-Editorial-use. fcielitecompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling2.com, femcompetitor.com, grapplingstars.com fcielitecompetitor.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbora_Krej%C4%8D%C3%ADkov%C3%A1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iga_%C5%9Awi%C4%85tek
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/21/tennis/iga-swiatek-australian-open-eliminated-spt-intl-hnk/index.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coco_Gauff
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madison_Keys
https://www.fciwomenswrestling2.com
https://www.fcielitecompetitor.com/
https://fciwomenswrestling.com/
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