Pegula defeats Navarro to reach US Open women's singles semifinals for three consecutive years

Pegula. (AFP)

[Reporter Liang Weiming/Comprehensive Report] The 2026 U.S. Open Tennis Championships staged a "showdown between the super-rich daughters". After three fierce battles, the third seed Jessica Pegula finally counterattacked the 26th seed Emma Navarro with 3:6, 6:4, 6:3. Navarro, who advanced to the top four of the New York Grand Slam women's singles for the third consecutive year, once again overcame Belarusian top seed and world tennis queen Aryna Sabalenka, who is aiming for three consecutive championships.

"It was a very difficult match. Not only was it a physical challenge, I also had to fight my inner demons on the court." The 32-year-old Pegula used her rich experience and was the runner-up at the 2024 US Open. After losing the first set against the 25-year-old Navarro, she immediately adjusted and regained one victory. However, he pushed the battle line into a decisive set and overcame the pressure of being broken first in the third game. He counterattacked with double breaks and won 4 games from 1:2, seizing the victory. The calm and steady veteran said after the game: "I have to keep telling myself on the court: 'Just shut up those negative thoughts!'"

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Pegula and Navarro are both the "rich second generation in tennis". The former's father Terry Pegula is worth as much as 11.8 billion U.S. dollars (approximately NT$375.8 billion), and the latter's father Ben Navarro is a well-known entrepreneur with a net worth of US$3.2 billion (approximately NT$101.9 billion). Now Pegula has won five consecutive matches and is looking forward to sweet revenge by defeating the "big devil" Shabalenka. She has been at the disadvantage with 4 wins and 9 losses in her career, including the US Open decisive match the year before last year and the top four losses last year.