A jam-packed quarterfinal Friday at the DC Open saw a tournament first — the top four seeds in both the men’s and women’s draws competing in the final eight for the first time.
Top women’s seed Jessica Pegula got the party started with a straight-sets win over No. 5 Anna Kalinskaya, 6-3, 7-5. The world No. 3 used a dominant first serve, winning 80% of her points on it, including six aces, while the Russian double-faulted five times and only won 58% of the points on her serve.
“A lot more straightforward, I think, than [Thursday’s] match,” Pegula said. “Still tricky, though. Especially at the end. But, yeah, she’s never easy to play, so if I can get away with a win against her, that’s more straightforward than usual. That’s a pretty good day for me.”
A former champion here in 2019, the Buffalo native hadn’t planned on coming back to the District this year. But after not playing for nearly two weeks after a quarterfinal run at Wimbledon and coming down with an illness after attending some events related to her sponsors, Washington came back into view.
“I was just more worried about not playing, coming back, being sick, and then being thrown into Washington where it’s really hot historically,” Pegula said. “But I saw that it was going to be a little cooler, and I was, like, OK, maybe I can push through this week and be OK.
“For me, sometimes I’ve had really good results when I’m not training that much, when I’m just working on certain things, and I know my game and know how I’m going to play. It’s a weird method,” she said.
Pegula faces another Russian in Saturday afternoon’s semifinal, No. 4 Diana Shnaider, who knocked out 2022 D.C. champion Liudmila Samsonova 6-3, 6-4. That came after another top seed, No. 3 Naomi Osaka of Japan, needed three sets to beat Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto.
“Overall this match was really tough, and it felt more like a mental match than an actual tennis match,” Osaka said. “I don’t feel like I played that well, but it was more, like, fighting through every point.”
It’s the deepest run Osaka has made in the tournament, with all seven of her career titles, including four Grand Slams, coming on hard courts — though she doesn’t yet feel as comfortable this summer on it as she’d like.
“I think the vibes are very high. I think on-court comfort is not that high,” Osaka said. “I feel like the balls, the court, it’s like a transition, but especially the balls. I feel like they’re flying all the time, and I kind of have to hold back on my power a lot.”
The upset of the day came on the men’s side, as defending champion Alex de Minaur’s run of seven straight DC Open wins came to an end at the hands of Brandon Nakashima, who evaded six of seven break chances unscathed to win in straight sets.
“I think it comes down to that,” de Minaur said of the disparity. “Obviously I had more chances than he did, more break points, but all credit to him. He came out with some great serving, a lot of first serves. The only second serve that he gave me on a break point I broke him, and that was early in the match.”
Nakashima, a Virginia tennis alum, had a deep roster of former teammates cheering him on doing the 7-6 (5), 6-4 win, with a dozen or so supporters in the stands near his player box.
“It’s nice to have them out there, and it’s great to have all those relationships. … College is always a great stepping platform before turning pro, no matter how good your level is,” he said.
An all-Southern California semifinal awaits him after No. 3 Taylor Fritz had to stave off leg tightness and a match point to get past Alex Michelsen, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (6).
“It’s a lot of familiarity obviously,” Fritz said of playing Golden Staters in back-to-back matches. “[Nakashima’s] obviously playing really well. It was two really good wins from him [this week]. It’s going to be a tough match. It’s going to come down to a lot of serving, as well.”
Fritz started favoring his left knee in the middle of the third set and needed treatment for it tied 2-all. Ironically, it was similar to an injury he sustained on court in February, but on the opposite knee.
“The thing is, I had the exact same thing happen to me in Dallas on my right knee,” Fritz said, “like exact same injury, like same spot, super sharp pain,” Fritz said. “Because of how it was in Dallas, I felt really confident that I just needed to see the physio. I needed to work on it a little bit and then play, like, a game or two, and it would start to just get better, because that’s what happened at Dallas. It kind of just — I tweak it. It’s super sharp, feels really weird, and then it kind of just goes away.”
As it went away, both men played to a match tiebreak. Fritz led 5-4 when Michelsen won the next two points on serve and generated a match point on Fritz’s serve.
But Michelsen sent his return long on Fritz’s second serve, before Fritz aced his next one for his chance to win the match. Michelsen would charge the net on the final point rally, but Fritz stepped up to bury a deep forehand winner down the line past him and let out a scream of enthusiasm — and perhaps exhaustion — in sealing the win.
The hottest day of the week saw players become a little more deliberate during changeovers, seeking ice-laden towels and fluids as soon as possible. Play was delayed on both main courts in the afternoon as some fans needed attention due to heat-related issues.
In the evening session, Alex Eala of the Philippines continued her sensational DC Open run, reaching the semifinals after defeating second seed and world No. 10 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-3, 6-4. She will face Osaka in the second match Saturday afternoon.
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