In a surprising turn of events at the ATP and WTA Washington Open on Friday, top-seeded defending champion Alex de Minaur was ousted by Brandon Nakashima. Meanwhile, Jessica Pegula, the top seed on the women’s side, secured her spot in the semi-finals.
Event Context
Alex de Minaur, currently ranked sixth in the world, was defeated by American Brandon Nakashima with a score of 7-6, 6-4, in a rematch of last year’s quarter-final in Washington. Nakashima, who holds the 33rd position in the ATP rankings, has advanced to the semi-finals, where he will meet the victor of an all-American showdown between 10th-ranked Taylor Fritz and 40th-ranked Alex Michelsen.
Meanwhile, American Jessica Pegula, currently ranked third and a previous WTA champion in Washington back in 2019, overcame 20th-ranked Anna Kalinskaya with a score of 6-3, 7-5, securing her place in her sixth WTA semi-final of the year. Pegula expressed her growing confidence in her performance, noting, “Since the beginning of the year, I’m finding more confidence in matches hitting different spots. I was focusing on that a lot today.”
In a strong performance, Pegula recorded 24 winners, 17 unforced errors, and served six aces. She will compete against the winner of a later match between Russians Diana Shnaider and Liudmila Samsonova for a chance to play in Sunday’s final.
In his match, Nakashima did not fall behind in the tie-break and delivered his eighth ace to clinch the first set. He broke de Minaur in the ninth game of the second set and held his serve to conclude the match in one hour and 54 minutes. With a total of 31 winners compared to de Minaur’s 22, Nakashima successfully defended six of the seven break points he encountered, improving his head-to-head record against de Minaur to 3-1, which includes a Queen’s quarter-final victory in June.
Pegula is aiming for her 12th career WTA title, having already claimed wins in Dubai and Charleston this year. In her match against Kalinskaya, Pegula was ahead 2-1 when her opponent took a medical timeout for her right foot. Pegula broke serve in the fourth game and maintained her lead to win the first set in 37 minutes.
Facing an unexpected challenge in the second set, Pegula had a brief scare when she fell behind 0-40 while serving for the match in the 10th game. Although she saved three break points, she ultimately sent a backhand long, leveling the score at 5-5. However, Kalinskaya forfeited the break with her third double fault in the 11th game, allowing Pegula to hold serve at love and secure victory after 75 minutes, marking her fifth win in six encounters against Kalinskaya.
“I’m always so on edge when I’m playing her, like at the end,” Pegula said. “She hits a couple of winners and I miss a couple of balls and all of a sudden it’s 5-all. It felt like it was straightforward, but at the same time in my mind it didn’t feel like it.”
In other women’s quarter-finals, Japan’s third-seeded Naomi Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion, was set to compete against Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto, while second-seeded Elina Svitolina from Ukraine faced Philippine’s Alexandra Eala.
Later in the men’s quarter-finals, American Ben Shelton, ranked eighth, went up against Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo, and Italy’s 15th-ranked Lorenzo Musetti played against 24th-ranked Spanish teenager Rafael Jodar.
