Tale of two streaks: Jen Brady rallies past friend Pegula in Melbourne

Week one 2021 Australian Open premise: strict quarantine, to hurt the tennis.

Week two 2021 Australian Open premise: strict quarantine, to save the tennis.

Jennifer Brady was one of the 72 players who spent 24 hours a day in a hotel room for 14 days prior to the Australian Open. To her credit, Brady had put in so much training time in November and December that she felt fit, tranquil and even grateful for the chance to have 288 consecutive hours to herself.

“Mentally I was feeling a little bit fried,” said Brady following her 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 quarterfinal win over her fellow American, Jessica Pegula. “I think I used that two weeks to kind of reset mentally and also physically, just give myself, my mind, my body a little bit of a rest.”

At the start of the tournament, though, the strict quarantine appeared to have profoundly negative consequences. Such contenders as Bianca Andreescu, Angelique Kerber and Victoria Azarenka were all subject to it, the lethargy quite apparent in their early round exits. Azarenka’s loss came to Pegula.

But as the third set of the Brady-Pegula match kicked into high gear, Brady was much more fresh with her footwork and ball-striking. Pegula, tidy and crisp with her movements and ball-striking early in the match, broke Brady in the first game of the third, but that proved meaningless. Brady rattled off the next six to reach the semis of a major for the second time.

“It was a tough match,” said Pegula. “I'm happy for Jen. She played really well, really stepped it up, stepped up her level.”

Getty Images

Though Pegula had won the only previous time these two had met (just last summer at the Western & Southern Open, also known as Cincinnati, in New York), the 22nd-seeded Brady was unquestionably the favorite. This was her second Grand Slam quarterfinal, the first having come just last year at the US Open. Brady from there went one step further, reaching the semis, where she lost a first-rate three-setter to eventual champion Naomi Osaka.

Pegula, ranked 61, had gone 3-8 at the majors before coming to Melbourne and commencing the run of her life. After beating Azarenka, Pegula earned wins over Aussie veteran Sam Stosur, intermittently dangerous Kristina Mladenovic, and, most impressively, fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina.

“I think I just proved that, okay, I'm sustaining that level right now,” said Pegula. “I think that's something I have to take moving forward.”

For much of this match, Pegula and Brady each struggled with tension, perhaps because they’re good friends, perhaps at the prospect of reaching the semis of a major—and one where the opponent had turned out to be not world No. 1 Ash Barty, but another aspirant, 25th-seeded Karolina Muchova. As much as tennis players speak about the process, when a top seed is toppled, it’s impossible not to ponder rich potential outcomes.

The first two sets were a tale of two streaks. From 0-1 down in the first set, Pegula won 14 straight points to go up 1-3, love-30. As much as Pegula was doing a terrific job driving the ball flat, hard and deep for most of the first set, Brady was a solid baseliner’s dream: predictable and erratic.

Brady caught up. But, serving at 4-all, 40-30, she subsequently played three miserable points—a long and netted backhand, followed by a double-fault at break point. Pegula swiftly closed out the set at 15. Said Brady, “I think today I came out and was maybe pressing a little bit too much, trying to overplay, and was making a few unforced errors in the beginning of the first set.”

Getty Images

In the second, everything went in the opposite direction. Brady settled, her movement and power increasing. The anticipated matchup had surfaced, Brady’s all-terrain vehicle far more commanding than Pegula’s snappy new roadster. To overdrive a metaphor, the wheels fell off for Pegula in the middle of the second set. Serving at 2-3, she lost eleven straight points.

“That service game was like the second set to me,” said Pegula. “I knew that she was running me a lot, but she was getting frustrated and I wasn't making a lot of errors. But I think the fact that I just couldn't win any free points on my first serve and my first-serve percentage dropped was to me the match basically. Then it kind of just spiraled from there.”

By early in the third, Pegula’s legs were losing their snap. In addition to serving woes, likely caused by her diminished leg strength, Pegula concurrently began to flail at the ball, making nearly as many unforced errors in the third set alone (15), as she had in the first two sets combined (17). The opposite held true for Brady—23 unforced in the first two sets, but only six in the third.

The only time Brady has played Muchova came in Prague nearly two years ago. Muchova won it, 7-6 in the third. “She’s crafty,” said Brady. “She looks to move forward. Has an all-court game. She’s really athletic.”

Brady played for two years at UCLA, where her coach was Stella Sampras. But the Sampras Brady more resembles is Stella’s younger brother, Pete. Like Pete, her game is highly aggressive, a lively serve and dynamic forehand each player’s biggest weapons. Like Pete, Brady carries herself with a quiet confidence, fully able to wrap herself in a gentle but focused cocoon no matter what the situation calls for. As Brady said earlier this week, “There’s way worse things going on in the world than me being stuck in a hotel room for 14 days.”