Men’s No. 1 seed Alex de Minaur loses in straight sets; Pegula advances on women’s side.
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For the first time since the DC Open expanded to include a women’s event in 2011, the four top seeds on both the men’s and women’s sides advanced to Friday’s quarterfinals.
In a tournament that typically features a large handful of upsets, as players often need to settle back in from breaks they took after Wimbledon and the weather is usually extremely hot, it was a relatively temperate beginning to the week.
The temperature kicked up Friday, in both respects. The sun beat down with more intensity, and on the court, men’s No. 1 seed Alex de Minaur was knocked out by Brandon Nakashima, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, who is chasing the possibility of his first title at an ATP 500 event.
Nakashima, 24, isn’t a D.C. native — he grew up in San Diego — but he went to the University of Virginia, which has made him an adoptive fan favorite in Washington.
“Any time when you get to have a deep run at one of these U.S. tournaments, it’s always a good feeling,” Nakashima said. “Especially playing in front of the U.S. crowd and especially here, all the U-Va. fans. Super happy that I’m in the semis.”
“All credit to him,” de Minaur said. “He came out with some great serving, a lot of first serves. … I was probably playing better, having better stats on top in the first set, and it just slipped away. Then all of a sudden, in the second set I’ve got my chances. Break points, just can’t convert. All of a sudden I throw in a bad game, and that’s the match.”
Jessica Pegula, the No. 1 seed and ranked No. 3 in the world, originally didn’t plan to play in Washington. In the two-week gap after Wimbledon, she had two weddings to attend and “like, five sponsored things” to travel for; the DC Open, the first of the American hard court tournaments before the U.S. Open, wasn’t high on her priority list.
But the 2019 winner ultimately opted to attend, accepting a wild card into the field after losing in the Wimbledon quarterfinals. Now, Pegula is into the semifinals after beating Anna Kalinskaya on Friday afternoon, 6-3, 7-5.
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“I feel pretty good,” Pegula said after the match. “A lot more straightforward. I think, than yesterday’s match. Still tricky, though. Especially at the end. But, yeah, she’s never easy to play, so if I can get away with a win against her that’s more straightforward than usual, that’s a pretty good day for me.”
As the No. 1 seed, Pegula had a bye through the first round and didn’t play her first match of the tournament until Thursday. She needed three sets to beat unseeded Magdalena Frech in that match, then looked more comfortable and assured against Kalinskaya.
“I really didn’t play after Wimbledon for, like, 10, 11 days, almost 12 days,” Pegula said. “Then, of course, I was so run down that when I got back, I got sick. … So I think the extra day here helped. I think also it not being as hot here really helped. I remember I looked at the weather because I was just more worried about not playing, coming back, being sick, and then being thrown into Washington where it’s really hot historically.
“But I saw that it was going to be a little cooler, and I was, like, ‘Okay, maybe I can push through this week and be okay.’”
Though Friday brought much warmer temperatures and far less breeze than Pegula’s match Thursday, her victory over Kalinskaya took just a brisk 1 hour, 15 minutes, so she didn’t have to spend much time out in the heat.
Naomi Osaka, the No. 2 seed, needed 2 hours, 11 minutes to beat Elisabetta Cocciaretto, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
“Today, I don’t know. I feel like it was tough,” Osaka said. “Overall this match was really tough, and it felt more like a mental match than an actual tennis match. I don’t feel like I played that well, but it was more, like, fighting through every point. … The vibes are high, but I hope that my next round I will play a lot better.”
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