Pegula Begins DC Open Fun Week With Comeback Win, Moves Into Quarterfinals

Jessica Pegula
Jessica Pegula (photo: Wick Photography/Mubadala DC Open)

WASHINGTON, July 31, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)

After World No. 3 and top seed Jessica Pegula got off to a slow start in her opening-round match against Magdalena Frech at the Mubadala DC Open Thursday afternoon, dropping the first set, the 2019 titlist found her groove.

What a difference the second and third sets made for Pegula. She won 12 of the final 15 games of the second-round tussle against the 48th-ranked Frech from Poland and won going away, 3-6, 6-3, 6-0, in one hour and 53 minutes on Stadium Court. 

“Yeah, happy to be through,” Pegula said during her post-match news conference. “Another three-set match, but you know, I played really well; I thought towards the end of the second, into the third set. So happy that I was able to kind of flip my level and get a win here.”

Pegula’s victory, which improved her win-loss record this season to 36-9, advanced her to face No. 5 seed and last year’s finalist Anna Kalinskaya of Russia in the quarterfinals on Stadium Court Friday. The two have a shared DC Open history as Pegula defeated Kalinskaya in the semifinal round of the 2019 event en route to winning her first WTA Tour title.

At the start of Pegula’s week, when she sat for her pre-tournament news conference on Monday, the American No. 1 expressed enthusiasm in returning to the nation’s capital city to begin her summer hard-court season with an eye toward the US Open, which is less than a month away.

“Super excited to be back here in D.C.,” she said. “I think I always love starting my summer swing here, and I have a lot of great memories here. I think it’s a great start to the hard-court swing, so excited to be here and see what happens.”

Post Wimbledon, Pegula originally didn’t plan to play in Washington, but a change of mind and a wild card enabled her to be competing in the only ATP/WTA 500-series combined event on the calendar.

“So, I wasn’t originally supposed to actually play here. I ended up adding it to my schedule just because I felt like, you know, it’s so close to me. It’s not that far away. It’s an easy tournament to play, especially before we go to Toronto and Cincy,” Pegula said. 

“Yeah, I went to a couple of weddings (fellow players Tommy Paul in Long Island, N.Y., and Asia Muhammad in Vancouver, B.C.), had a lot of fun, and then did a lot of work in between. So, it was a busy week. Not going to lie, my prep probably hasn’t been ideal, but yeah, it is what it is. Excited to play.”

Against Frech, whom she’s never lost to in four meetings, Pegula struck 42 winners – including nine aces – and won 72 percent (31 of43) of her first-serve points. She won five of 12 break-point opportunities and saved five of seven break-point chances. Pegula outpointed Frech 87-69.

“I think I’ve always played this tournament, so I’m very familiar,” Pegula said. “I’m familiar with the setup, and I have friends that also live here. So, for me, it’s always been just a really fun week I think to start the summer swing, get in a little bit of heat.

“Even though I’m in Florida (Boca Raton on the Florida Atlantic Coast), and it’s actually much hotter in Florida, but get into a little bit of heat this week, get used to the balls. I think the fans here are really, really fun to play in front of as well.

“I don’t know. I always feel like this tournament kind of sets my swing off on a good note. I think it’s just, like, a good energy here being in the nation’s capital, and being an American, it’s always a lot of fun for me to play here.”

Around the Mubadala DC Open

Men:

• Although 24-year-old Brandon Nakashima doesn’t command the same attention as fellow Americans Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton, he goes about his work on the tennis court with the same dedication and determination. On Thursday, the 33rd-ranked Nakashima opened Stadium action on Day 4 of the tournament with an upset of No. 7 seed Jakub Mensik of Czechia in their first tour-level meeting. 

Nakashima reached the Washington, D.C. quarterfinals in back-to-back years with his 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-4 victory in two hours and 14 minutes. The loss prevented Mensik from reaching his fourth hard-court quarterfinal of the season following earlier success in winning a title at Auckland, reaching the semifinals at Doha and making the elite eight at Dubai.

Although Mensik struck 15 aces and hit 31 winners, he also committed 32 unforced errors and Nakashima took advantage of many of those miscues by the 17th-ranked Czech. Nakashima countered with 12 aces and hit 32 winners overall. He converted two of three break points. Mensik outpointed Nakashima 98-96.

• Next, Nakashima will face World No. 6 and defending champion Alex de Minaur of Australia, whom he beat in the quarterfinals of Queen’s Club on grass last month. On Thursday afternoon, de Minaur ended the dream run of 17-year-old Aussie teenager Cruz Hewitt, the son of Australian hall of fame great Lleyton Hewitt, who received a wild card into the qualifying draw last weekend after finishing runner-up at the recent Wimbledon junior boys’ singles tournament.

De Minaur raced to a 5-0 lead in the opening set and cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 victory in 61 minutes on Stadium Court, with the elder Hewitt in attendance.

The 27-year-old Sydneysider hit 13 winners – six of them aces – and converted five of seven break points. He outpointed Hewitt, who made 27 unforced errors, 54-39.

While there was no fairytale ending for Cruz this time, the defending champion de Minaur won his seventh-straight match in Washington, D.C., to advance to the last eight. Afterwards, the two shared a warm, collegial embrace – like brothers – and all was good as they walked off the court together. There was a lot of respect shown by de Minaur but he didn’t show any mercy when it mattered most. However, now they can rekindle their friendship. 

The upside for Cruz is he can fondly look back at his first ATP Tour main-draw victory and his live ranking will reflect a 244-spot improvement from No. 612 to No. 368.

“It was definitely weird,” de Minaur said in his on-court interview. “I knew I was going to play him on the Tour someday, but I didn’t actually expect it to be this week. It was an amazing feeling. Even all the lead up, seeing all the incredible pictures that we have together and how we’ve both grown up. I’m glad I managed to get through, but I’m sure we’re going to have many battles in the years to come.”

Later, during his news conference, de Minaur said:  “I’ve known Cruz for the better part of ten years. We’ve hit with each other many, many times. So going into the match I felt like we both knew each other’s games pretty well, so it made it kind of like an interesting battle of who was going to execute better.

“I’m glad I managed the situation and the emotions well and I was able to kind of get off to a good start and, you know, get a win over someone who I’m sure I’m going to be playing a lot more.”

When it was Hewitt’s turn to meet the media during his post-match news conference, he summed up his feelings this way: “That was a very special match, special moment I think for both of us. I’ve looked up to him my whole life pretty much, seen him play so many times, practiced together,” he said.

“As I said, he’s like my brother, so it was special to share the court, and I wish him all the best for the rest of the tournament.”

• On John Harris Court, Chilean No. 1 Alejandro Tabilo, who upset American newlywed Tommy Paul in the opening round, took on 56th-ranked Terence Atmane of France, who ousted popular American Frances Tiafoe in the first round of his hometown tournament. After 92 minutes, in a battle of lefties, it was Tabilo who prevailed 6-3, 7-6 (6) to advance to the quarterfinal round. He’s the first Chilean quarterfinalist in Washington, D.C., since Fernando Gonzalez in 2009.

With his 21st victory of 2026, Tabilo has reached his 15th ATP Tour quarterfinal – fifth of the season, following last-eight runs in Buenos Aires, Rio, Santiago and Bastad – and first on a hard since winning the title at Chengdu in September 2025. 

• The 30th-ranked Tabilo will face World No. 8 and second seed Ben Shelton of the United States, who rallied to defeat No. 29 Ugo Humbert of France, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-4, in two hours and 24 minutes in back of 19 winners on an electric Stadium Court in a featured evening session match.

Shelton improved to 15-2 at ATP 500 level this season, including titles in Dallas and Munich, and advanced to his eighth quarterfinal stage of the season and third straight last eight in Washington, D.C. after semifinal runs in 2024 and 2025. He denied Humbert, whom he outpointed 102-91, of becoming the third Frenchman to record a Top-10 triumph this season after Arthur Fils (2) and Terence Atmane (1).

“I’m addicted to stuff like this: playing in these atmospheres and these types of matches,” Shelton said during his on-court interview afterward. “[Washington] is one of the best atmospheres in tennis 100 percent.”

Women:

• No. 5 seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia brought a 12-3 win-loss record at the DC Open into her second-round match against No. 37 Janice Tjen of Indonesia, who was making her tournament debut this week, on John Harris Court Thursday afternoon. 

By the conclusion, after two hours and 17 minutes, it was the 20th-ranked Kalinskaya who prevailed 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7), after saving two match points, first on her serve down 4-5 in the final set, then down 5-6 in the decisive tie-break. Kalinskaya won on her second match-point opportunity to move into the quarterfinal round at Washington, D.C., for the fourth time. She was a finalist last year to Leylah Fernandez of Canada.

• Two of Diana Shnaider‘s five career titles have come at the WTA 500 level. The No. 4 seed from Russia previously won WTA 500 titles at Monterrey last year and in 2024 at Bad Homburg. On Thursday evening, Shnaider faced No. 27 Anastasia Potapova of Austria looking to reach the 20th Tour-level quarterfinal of her career – 12th on a hard court – and fourth this season. The former North Carolina State collegiate star defeated Potapova, 6-2, 6-2, in 55 minutes on John Harris Court. 

Next, Shnaider will face 2022 DC Open champion Liudmila Samsonova in Friday’s quarterfinal round.

Doubles:

• In men’s doubles, No. 1 seeds and defending champions Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavasorri of Italy were upset by lucky losers Ariel Behar of Israel and Anirudh Chandrasekar of India, 6-4, 5-7, 11-9, in one hour and 46 minutes in a quarterfinal clash.

Also, Hugo Nys of Monaco and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France upset No. 4 seeds Guido Andreozzi of Argentina and Manuel Guinard of France, 2-6, 6-3, 10-8, in one hour and 16 minutes on the Grandstand Court.

• In women’s doubles, No. 1 seeds Sara Errani of Italy and Nicole Melichar-Martinez were ousted by unseeded Andreja Klepac of Slovenia and Makoto Ninomiya of Japan, 1-6, 7-6 (3), 12-10, in one hour and 39 minutes on John Harris Court to advance to Friday’s semifinals against No. 3 seeds Janice Tjen of Indonesia and 2025 champion Zhang Shuai of China. 

The other semifinal will pair No. 2 seeds Erin Routliffe of New Zealand and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia against Chinese duo Tang Qianhui and Xu Yifan.

Thursday’s Mubadala DC Open men’s results

Thursday’s Mubadala DC Open women’s results

Friday’s Mubadala DC Open order of play

By the numbers

Brandon Nakashima of the United States reached his 26th ATP Tour quarterfinal –  seventh at ATP 500 level – with his victory over No. 7 seed Jakub Mensik of Czechia. He equalled his best result in Washington after advancing to the quarterfinals last year.

“Quotable …”

“Kei is one of the best players of all time. He’s won so many titles. It’s a pleasure to play against him, a legend like Kei. I knew I had to play my game. I think I did a great job adjusting some things that I wasn’t doing right in the beginning of the match, so I’m really happy about that.”

– Spanish teenager Rafael Jodar, 19, during his on-court interview after defeating 36-year-old Kei Nishikori of Japan on Stadium Court Wednesday evening.

 

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