In a week highlighted by the working moms at the U.S. Open, Jennifer Brady shared a special moment Tuesday with her mother after advancing to a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time in her career.
“Actually, today was the first time I FaceTimed my mom and she started bawling. That was nice,” the 25-year-old American said with a smile after dispatching No. 23 Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan, 6-3, 6-2, in the first U.S. Open quarterfinal match at Arthur Ashe Stadium. “She’s very emotional. She’s very proud of me. She was happy.”
Brady also was elated following her fifth consecutive straight-sets victory this year at Flushing Meadows, especially considering her previous top Grand Slam showing was a fourth-round appearance at the Australian Open in 2017.
She will face 2018 Open champion and No. 4 seed Naomi Osaka — a 6-3, 6-4 winner over American Shelby Rogers — in the semis of the first major tournament played without spectators, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s a little bit easier when there are no fans — yeah, a little bit easier, definitely,” said Brady, who was born in Pennsylvania, but trained at Chris Evert’s academy in Florida. “If the crowd was there, I think it would have been awesome to have that experience, to even just experience the loud roar on Ashe with 20,000 people.”
Brady, who claimed her first WTA title last month at the Top Seed Open in Kentucky, broke Putintseva three times in the opening set. She went up 5-2 in the second with two more breaks in the fifth and seventh games before closing out the victory on serve.
“Coming into the match today, honestly I was feeling like I was going to poop my pants, I was very nervous,” Brady said. “I just tried to really stay calm and, like, keep it cool as a cucumber out there.”
After the 41st-ranked Brady knocked off 2016 Open champ Angelique Kerber in her previous match, the former UCLA star became the first former women’s college player since Gigi Fernandez (Clemson) in 1994 to reach the quarters. She now is the first to reach the semis since Lori McNeil (Oklahoma State) in 1987.
Should Brady reach the finals, she’d be the first former collegiate player to do so since Billie Jean King (both went to UCLA) won her fourth U.S. Open singles championship in 1974.
First, she will have to get past Osaka, who committed just eight unforced errors compared to 28 for Rogers in the evening session on Ashe.
“I think she’s a really amazing player. She has the variety that I wish I had, so I’m a bit jealous … and I think it’s gonna be a really tough match,” said Osaka, who donned a mask with George Floyd’s name on it before and after her latest victory, in her continued support of the fight against social injustice. “All of the matches have been really tough, the score line might not suggest it. I’m really grateful to be in this position right now.”
