Pegula Beats Cirstea to Reach US Open QF

Jessica Pegula kept Week 2 simple. The No. 3 seed beat No. 16 Sorana Cirstea 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday at the US Open and locked up another quarterfinal, per Nine.com.au's Day 8 live coverage and Star Metro.

Pegula is a former finalist here (2024 runner-up) and she treated the Round of 16 like business. Straight sets. No late drama. Cirstea had rolled through three rounds without dropping a set, including a win over Jasmine Paolini, and still could not slow the American down once Pegula settled into the baseline patterns she wants on hard courts in New York.

Straight sets, familiar stage

They met last month in Cincinnati, where Pegula won 6-2, 4-6, 7-5. Sunday was cleaner. Pegula took the first set 6-3, then closed 6-4 without letting Cirstea build the same third-set chaos they lived in Ohio. That is the version of Pegula Flushing expects in Week 2: first-strike returns, calm holds, and no panic when the Romanian tries to change height and pace mid-rally.

Cirstea's 2026 renaissance was real. Roland Garros quarterfinals. A deep New York run. Pegula still had the matchup answer ready. The scoreboard never needed a third set, and the American walked off with the same Round of 16-to-quarterfinal path she has owned for years at her home Slam. Experience showed up as shot selection more than highlight-reel winners.

Pegula did not need to reinvent anything. She needed to take care of her service games and punish the second serves Cirstea left sitting up. She did both. When the Romanian pushed in the second set, Pegula tightened the return stance and finished points at the net instead of camping on the baseline and hoping for errors.

American depth keeps stacking

Pegula's win sits next to a stacked U.S. day in New York. Coco Gauff already punched through Cristina Bucsa into the Round of 16 earlier in the fortnight, and the home crowd keeps finding reasons to stay loud. Pegula is the veteran of that group, the one who has already lived a final on Ashe and knows what the next round demands when the ball speeds up.

Sunday was not about style points. It was about converting a favorable Round of 16 into a quarterfinal without leaking sets. Pegula did that. Cirstea forced her to stay honest for two sets. The No. 3 seed still left Flushing with the only result that mattered: another quarterfinal, and another chance to chase the title she reached two years ago.