Iga Świątek moved into the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 event in Rome on Monday with a 6:2, 6:1 win over Naomi Osaka, then learned her next test will be Jessica Pegula. The Polish star controlled the match from start to finish and closed it with the kind of straight-sets performance that has become her calling card in Rome.
Świątek said after the match that since beginning work with Francisco, she had wanted to return to more solid tennis, take less risk and play in a more percentage-based way. She said that was exactly why the month of training mattered, adding that her serve had clearly improved and that she felt she could rely on it and then build points from the back of the court. Against Osaka, that showed in the scoreline.
Pegula arrives as a formidable quarterfinal opponent. The American is ranked No. 5 in the WTA standings and has earned more than $24 million on tour. She reached this stage by beating Zeynep Sonmez, Rebeka Masarova and Anastasia Potapova, and the matchup with Świątek is now one of the tournament's most consequential last-eight meetings. A separate report on the draw noted the quarterfinal pairing in the Internazionali d’Italia.
Pegula's name also carries a different kind of attention off court. Her father, Terry Pegula, sold most of his assets in 2010 to Royal Dutch Shell for $4.7 billion, and Forbes valued his fortune at about $9.3 billion at the start of this month. The Pegula family manages its interests largely through Pegula Sports and Entertainment, after building its wealth through business ventures tied to natural gas extraction, oil and later professional sports.
Jessica Pegula has addressed the skepticism that sometimes follows her success. “I know what the haters say: ‘The only reason she is good is because she has money,’” she said in one interview. But she added that most people have come to find her story interesting, and that it led her to decide not to hide from it. She has also said it is fun to see Bills fans in the stands, even when she is far from home, including in Qatar, where she has spotted people in team shirts.
The quarterfinal now pushes two very different forms of pressure into the same match: Świątek trying to keep her Rome momentum rolling, and Pegula trying to turn her consistency and ranking into a deeper run. With the winner moving one round closer to the title, the match should say plenty about where both players stand on this clay.
