Maria Sharapova, Venus Williams among stars who honor science achievement at Breakthrough Prize Ceremony

Last year, Jessica Pegula sent Twitter ablaze after a post-loss bottle of beer. This year, a post-loss bag of chips earned the top-ranked American hundreds of retweets and thousands of likes.

After suffering a 6-1, 5-7, 6-0 loss to Barbora Krejcikova on Friday—and after grabbing some Doritos from the physio—Pegula's next stop was the airport, where she gave us one final dispatch from Dubai:

Advertising

Everyone: “What is it like playing on tour? It must be so amazing!”

Me: gets bagled on your birthday, sitting eating Doritos at midnight, waiting to get on a 16 hr flight home. 🤣 pic.twitter.com/5YqSZ0xHx5
— Jessie Pegula (@JLPegula) February 24, 2023

It was in the US Open interview room, following Pegula's quarterfinal loss to Iga Swiatek last September, when the Buffalo, N.Y. native decided it was the right time for a cold one:

Advertising

Pegula should challenge the beer chugging lady to a chug off let's be honest. pic.twitter.com/mlRehW9igF
— Pseudo McEnroe (@McEnroeTweets) September 8, 2022

What's next for Pegula in the indulgence department? A favorite candy seems like a reasonable request.

One thing's for sure: she's earned it. Dubai marked the fifth consecutive 1000-level hard-court tournament in which Pegula reached the quarterfinals—a first for an American. Not even Serena Williams displayed that level of consistency across this level of competition.

Advertising

✅ Miami 2022 (SF)
✅ Toronto 2022 (SF)
✅ Cincinnati 2022 (QF)
✅ Guadalajara 2022 (W)
✅ Dubai 2023 (QF*)

🇺🇸 @JLPegula defeats Bogdan 6-4, 6-3 to become the first American player ever to reach the quarterfinals in five consecutive WTA 1000-level hardcourt events 🖐️#DDFTennis pic.twitter.com/BG7jpf73ax
— wta (@WTA) February 22, 2023

Pegula later tweeted that she was proud of her efforts in the Middle East, despite two late-round defeats. It was "time for some rest"—and, hopefully, some belated birthday cake.

Advertising