Fresh off her win over victory over 2022 US Open champion Emma Raducanu, Sofia Kenin battles countrywoman Jessica Pegula in the second round on Thursday, keen to advance to a third match at Flushing Meadows.
Pegula extended Shelby Rogers's winless run in the singles circuit to six to beat her 31-year-old opponent and secure a second all-American match at the ongoing tournament.
Match preview
© Imago
Kenin got the better of Raducanu in the battle of the one-time Grand Slam champions on Tuesday, beating the British player 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 in a first-round tussle that lasted two hours and 11 minutes.
The No. 54-ranked player on the WTA Tour faced an opponent who had won 10 of 14 matches heading into the final major of the year, but the American edged past the 2022 champion, who has been winless in Queens since claiming that unexpected victory.
The upshot of Kenin's win against Raducanu means the 25-year-old has matched the previous year's second-round run, even if she now aims to go deeper on home soil having exited quickly in 2022 (first round) and last year.
A long time has passed since Kenin's strong start to 2020, when she claimed her sole Grand Slam in Australia and made it to the final at Roland Garros only to be thwarted by Iga Swiatek, with subsequent shots at Majors never seeing her go beyond the fourth round.
On Thursday, she seeks a third appearance in the tournament's third round, but she has to beat a top-10 opponent to advance, something she has managed only once all year.
© Imago
Pegula is the undoubted favourite heading into the round-two match, with the No. 6 seed dispatching Rogers in her tournament-opener 6-4, 6-3 to avoid a shock defeat in the all-American first-round match.
Facing another countrywoman could pose unique challenges for last year's quarter-finalist, even if her momentum heading into the final Slam of 2024 adds to her optimism.
Pegula came into her home tournament in peak form, successfully defending her WTA 1000 title in Toronto to clinch consecutive Canadian Open victories and played commendably to reach the final in Cincinnati, where she was beaten by Aryna Sabalenka.
That further buttresses the 30-year-old's standing as one of the in-form players on the WTA Tour, and she will back herself to ultimately match last year's run to the fourth round or better her 2023 best in progressing to the last eight.
For that to happen, the six-time Slam quarter-finalist will hope recent history does not repeat itself, having exited in round two in Australia and Wimbledon this year.
Tournament so far
Sofia Kenin:
First round: vs. Emma Raducanu
Jessica Pegula:
First round: vs. Shelby Rogers
Head To Head
Dothan (2016) - Round of 32: Pegula 3-6 6-4 6-2
Quebec City (2018) - Semi-final: Pegula 4-6 6-2 6-4
Melbourne (2021) - Round of 16: Kenin 5-7 7-5 6-2
Roland Garros (2021) - Round of 16: Kenin 4-6 6-1 6-4
Both women have faced off four times on tour, and they have split their previous meetings.
Interestingly, Pegula won the first two match-ups before Kenin claimed the next two to tie their head-to-head at 2-2 heading into Thursday's second-round encounter.
A striking pattern in those four matches has seen the winner of the first set fail to close out the match in straight sets, and it remains to be seen if a repeat occurs in their fifth battle.
We say: Pegula to win in three sets
While the obvious bet would be calling a straightforward victory over Kenin, Pegula could be forced to a decider against her countrywoman.
Regardless, the No. 6 seed's momentum and form going into the tournament mean anything other than a victory counts as a shock result, and she should advance in this all-American round-two match.
