Sofia Kenin’s first-round meeting with Venus Williams did not begin until 12:13am local time on Monday. Two nights later, Jessica Pegula was done with her in 56 minutes.
The No. 3 seed beat Kenin 6-3, 6-1 to move into the third round at Flushing Meadows, dropping just seven points on serve on her way through.
Pegula broke Kenin to love in the very first game and closed out the opening set in 30 minutes without facing a break point. She broke twice more in the second for a 4-0 lead before serving out to love.
“I was just trying to stay focused on what I needed to do,” Pegula said after the match.
Ranked 110th in the world and a former Australian Open champion, Kenin never found a foothold on Wednesday.
Kenin’s post-midnight upset of Venus Williams
The delay was down to Novak Djokovic and Mariano Navone spending four hours and 36 minutes on Arthur Ashe Stadium in a five-set match that Djokovic lost. When they were finally done, it was the latest start time in US Open history.
Kenin won 6-2, 7-6(7) in one hour and 48 minutes, sending the 46-year-old Williams, playing on a wildcard, out of the tournament in the first round.
Williams was philosophical about the timing afterwards.
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“It was extremely late. I’ve never played a match that late before, and I was happy to see that so many people stuck around for that,” she told reporters.
She had led the second-set tiebreak with seven set points, none of which she took.
“I think it was just a little bit unlucky, and I think it’s some of the best tennis she’s played lately,” Williams said of Kenin.
Pegula leads Fernandez 3-1 head-to-head
Pegula’s third-round opponent is Leylah Fernandez, the 23-year-old Canadian and former US Open finalist. Fernandez beat Mananchaya Sawangkaew of Thailand 6-4, 6-1 on the same day to book the meeting.
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Pegula leads the head-to-head 3-1, including a hard-court win at the Miami Open earlier this year. She is still chasing her first Grand Slam title.
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