DailyExpertNews
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Jessica Pegula, the daughter of Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula, scored her first career victory over a world No. 1 on Friday by beating Poland’s Iga Świątek 6-2 6-2 in the opening game of the semifinals of the United Cup in Sydney.
The 28-year-old American lost all four of her games against Świątek last season, but came through in just 71 minutes on Friday to secure her second victory over the Pole – the last came in San Diego in 2019 – and earn Team USA’s first point over Poland.
Frances Tiafoe then swept past Kacper Żuk 6-3 6-3 to give the USA a 2-0 lead, giving Taylor Fritz the chance to win the game with a victory over Hubert Hurkacz on Saturday.
“[The] the conditions are completely different from anywhere else I’ve played against her,” world No. 3 Pegula told the WTA. “Of course I might have had a slight advantage, they just flew in yesterday.
“Definitely the fastest terms I’ve played her. Every other place I’ve played her has been pretty slow.
“I think that paid off for me a lot, and I was able to use that to my advantage and play a really super clean game. I think I probably executed my game plan better than the previous times.
Pegula, a huge Bills fan, told the WTA that she had been watching the game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Bills during Tiafoe’s match against Germany’s Oscar Otte when Damar Hamlin collapsed.
Hamlin went into cardiac arrest and fell onto his back shortly after tackling Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins during Monday’s NFL game.
The Bills Security Service has since made “substantial improvement” at the hospital after the cardiac arrest, doctors said, and is now awake and moving its hands and feet.
Hamlin can communicate by shaking his head, nodding or writing short notes, said Dr. Timothy Pritts, part of the player’s medical team. When he awoke, Pritts said, Hamlin’s mind was still on the game as he scribbled his first question on a clipboard: “Did we win?”
Pegula called the incident “terrible.”
“There are really no words,” she told reporters per Reuters earlier this week. “I’m glad they stopped the game. It takes you back to there are much bigger things that are more important than sports and games. It was pretty scary.”
She later tweeted, “It’s times like these that remind us of perspective. It’s just a game and in the end it doesn’t matter after what happened tonight. My prayers go out to Damar and his family. This team is family, football is family, sport brings us together as family.”