Jessica Pegula reached the first semifinal of her career at Miami Open and her second at WTA 1000 level after Paula Badosa withdrew from the quarter final match due to viral illness.
Pegula was leading 4-1 after 18 minutes when Badosa retired. The US player won four consecutive games after dropping serve in the opening game.
Pegula has won her second consecutive match via retirement. She cruised past Anhelina Kalinina 6-0 in the fourth round before the Ukrainian player withdrew from the match.
The US player will face a semifinal against either Iga Swiatek or Petra Kvitova.
Pegula reached her first WTA 1000 semifinal in Montreal last year before losing to eventual champion Camila Giorgi.
Pegula is the daughter of sports investor Therry Pegula, owner of Pegula Sports and Entertainment which owns the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League and the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League.Badosa had taken a medical time-out in the first set against 16-year-old Linda Fruhvirtova in the fourth round.
“I think from her last match I could tell that she probably wasn’t going to be 100% by today. I have no idea what happened or how she was feeling or if she recovered it was quick. It’s just hard to know in those situations. It can be awkward. I didn’t really notice that much. I was trying to focus on my side. She broke me first game, and she hit a winner. She is like: Come on. I was like, this is not going to just be another match. I just tried to refocus on myself, and I don’t think I really thought she was going to retire, like maybe not that quickly, not that quickly, maybe a set or, if anything, but not that soon”, said Pegula.
