Pegula shrugs off injury scare to stay unbeaten against Anisimova, make Cincy semis

Having taken the first set in her Cincinnati quarterfinal Thursday, Jessica Pegula quickly found herself trailing 3-0 in the second. Things went from bad to worse when she took an off-court medical timeout and was broken again after returning to the court.

After Amanda Anisimova closed out the second set with a trademark backhand winner, there was worry the match was headed for an untimely conclusion. But Pegula gutted it out. She moved in front 3-0 in the decider, and even after Anisimova broke back and dragged her into a third-set tiebreak, the World No. 3 emerged far from unscathed but with a 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (4) victory in 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Cincinnati: Scores | Order of play | Draws

The win sends her through to her 15th career WTA 1000 semifinal, where she will face the winner of No. 2 seed Elena Rybakina and No. 7 seed Iga Swiatek.

Against all odds, Pegula also extended her perfect record in her head-to-head with Anisimova, having now won all six career matches against her compatriot. Anisimova is the second player Pegula has beaten six times without a loss at the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz level in her career, joining Anastasia Potapova.

"Amanda is an amazing player, an amazing ball striker. I know I have a good record against her, but literally every single match is like it was today," Pegula said in her on-court interview. "So I know I have to try and survive. Sometimes she can play lights-out tennis where there's not much you can do, like in the second set.

"But I think was able to start getting some momentum at the end of that set and take it into the third and get ahead. It still wasn't enough, but I got there."

It's a milestone victory for Pegula, who becomes just the second American after Serena Williams (104) to claim 100 wins in hard-court WTA 1000 events since the format's introduction in 2009.

More to come...