Izuchukwu OkosiUnited States’ Jessica Pegula gave her country the perfect start to their United Cup semi-final against Poland with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over world number one Iga Swiatek in the opening singles rubber on Friday before compatriot Frances Tiafoe doubled their advantage.
Swiatek proved to be indecisive in her serves as she was only able to hold her serve once in the first set.
Pegula raced to a 5-0 lead and the American world number three kept up the pressure with some brilliant returns in the second set much to the delight of their teeming fans.
Pegula secured a dominant victory that will also give her a personal boost heading into this month’s Australian Open which begins on January 9, when Swiatek sent a forehand wide after little more than an hour on Ken Rosewall Arena.
“I thought I did a good job playing really aggressive, serving smart and returning really well,” an elated Pegula told the media.
The American had lost her previous four matches against Swiatek.
It was her first career victory over a reigning number one and a result that left Swiatek in a flood of tears in Poland’s dugout after the match.
“She’s one of the best players in the world so you have to be really on top of your game to win against Jessie,” Swiatek said. “It was always like that, even last season.
“So I’m not surprised, because I know what she can do. I’m more surprised I wasn’t able to step up to her game today (Friday).”
In the men’s category, Tiafoe gave the Americans a 2-0 lead when he comfortably beat Kacper Zuk 6-3 6-3, admitting after the match that Pegula’s performance had inspired him.
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“It was great, I was so amped watching. Forget about me playing, I was so happy for Jess. I know what it means for her going forward,” said Tiafoe, who has won all four of his singles matches in the event, dropping one set.
Maria Sakkari will be in action later on Friday evening session when Greece take on Italy in the other semi-final at the inaugural mixed team tournament.
The United States team had eliminated Great Britain in the quarterfinals stage of the tournament to set up the meeting with the Polish team.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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