{"id":8442,"date":"2026-07-31T23:35:58","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T23:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8442"},"modified":"2026-07-31T23:35:58","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T23:35:58","slug":"temperature-rises-on-and-off-court-at-dc-open-quarterfinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8442","title":{"rendered":"Temperature rises, on and off court, at DC Open quarterfinals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Men\u2019s No. 1 seed Alex de Minaur loses in straight sets; Pegula advances on women\u2019s side. <\/strong><\/p>

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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Brandon Nakashima celebrates his straight-set victory over top-seeded Alex de Minaur in the quarterfinals of the DC Open on Friday. (Geoff Burke\/Imagn Images\/Reuters Connect)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

For the first time since the DC Open expanded to include a women\u2019s event in 2011, the four top seeds on both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s sides advanced to Friday\u2019s quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The temperature kicked up Friday, in both respects. The sun beat down with more intensity, and on the court, men\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Nakashima, 24, isn\u2019t a D.C. native \u2014 he grew up in San Diego \u2014 but he went to the University of Virginia, which has made him an adoptive fan favorite in Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny time when you get to have a deep run at one of these U.S. tournaments, it\u2019s always a good feeling,\u201d Nakashima said. \u201cEspecially playing in front of the U.S. crowd and especially here, all the U-Va. fans. Super happy that I\u2019m in the semis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll credit to him,\u201d de Minaur said. \u201cHe 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\u2019ve got my chances. Break points, just can\u2019t convert. All of a sudden I throw in a bad game, and that\u2019s the match.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jessica Pegula, the No. 1 seed and ranked No. 3 in the world, originally didn\u2019t plan to play in Washington. In the two-week gap after Wimbledon, she had two weddings to attend and \u201clike, five sponsored things\u201d to travel for; the DC Open, the first of the American hard court tournaments before the U.S. Open, wasn\u2019t high on her priority list.<\/p>\n

But the 2019 winner ultimately opted to attend, accepting a wild card into the field<\/a> after losing in the Wimbledon quarterfinals. Now, Pegula is into the semifinals after beating Anna Kalinskaya on Friday afternoon, 6-3, 7-5.<\/p>

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\u201cI feel pretty good,\u201d Pegula said after the match. \u201cA lot more straightforward. I think, than yesterday\u2019s match. Still tricky, though. Especially at the end. But, yeah, she\u2019s never easy to play, so if I can get away with a win against her that\u2019s more straightforward than usual, that\u2019s a pretty good day for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the No. 1 seed, Pegula had a bye through the first round and didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really didn\u2019t play after Wimbledon for, like, 10, 11 days, almost 12 days,\u201d Pegula said. \u201cThen, 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\u2019s really hot historically.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I saw that it was going to be a little cooler, and I was, like, \u2018Okay, maybe I can push through this week and be okay.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Friday brought much warmer temperatures and far less breeze than Pegula\u2019s match Thursday, her victory over Kalinskaya took just a brisk 1 hour, 15 minutes, so she didn\u2019t have to spend much time out in the heat.<\/p>\n

Naomi Osaka, the No. 2 seed, needed 2 hours, 11 minutes to beat Elisabetta Cocciaretto, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, I don\u2019t know. I feel like it was tough,\u201d Osaka said. \u201cOverall this match was really tough, and it felt more like a mental match than an actual tennis match. I don\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>

Read more At typically tranquil Camp David, Trump publicly lashes out at political enemies<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pegula advances on women’s side on day in which the heat and intensity picks up. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nTemperature rises, on and off court, at DC Open quarterfinals - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8442\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Temperature rises, on and off court, at DC Open quarterfinals - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pegula advances on women's side on day in which the heat and intensity picks up.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8442\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-31T23:35:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/06d1a2092d2083bc23412ea5de13a711.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2456\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1638\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8442#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8442\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Temperature rises, on and off court, at DC Open quarterfinals\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-31T23:35:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8442\"},\"wordCount\":799,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8442#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/dcee7d3765be4531594dc9bc12737acd.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8442#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8442\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8442\",\"name\":\"Temperature rises, on and off court, at DC Open quarterfinals - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8442#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8442#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/dcee7d3765be4531594dc9bc12737acd.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-31T23:35:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8442#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8442\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8442#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/dcee7d3765be4531594dc9bc12737acd.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/dcee7d3765be4531594dc9bc12737acd.jpg\",\"width\":2456,\"height\":1638,\"caption\":\"Jul 31, 2026; Washington, D.C., USA; Brandon Nakashima (USA) celebrates after match point against Alex de Minaur (AUS) (not pictured) during a men's singles quarterfinal on day five of the 2026 Mubadala DC Open at Rock Creek Park Tennis Center. 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