Former tennis professional Chris Evert recently hailed Jessica Pegula's spectacular win over World No. 1 Iga Swiatek at the United Cup.
Playing in the semifinals of the inaugural edition of the United Cup, Pegula eased past the World No. 1 in just under 71 minutes to win her first match against the Pole after four successive defeats. The American's win gave Team USA a 1-0 lead over Team Poland, and shortly after, Frances Tiafoe made it 2-0.
Evert, 66, turned to social media to reflect on the World No. 3's first win of her career over Swiatek. The 18-time Grand Slam singles winner shared Pegula's social media post that linked her win with Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills, whose jersey number is 3.
"The best match I’ve ever seen her play," Chris Evert captioned her tweet.
Pegula, whose parents, Terry and Kim Pegula, own the National Football League club Buffalo Bills, shared the post and captioned it with:
"Number 3 inspired by number 3."
Hamlin recently suffered an on-field cardiac arrest during a match between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals. He received instant CPR and was later transferred to a medical center.
During her United Cup press conference, Jessica Pegula reacted to Hamlin's incident and stated that she felt sick after hearing the news.
"I mean, it's just terrible. Just terrible. Just terrible. There's really no words. It was pretty scary. I don't really know much else," the 28-year-old asserted. "Obviously, it's pretty frantic there right now. I felt sick. It was just terrible. I think everyone felt that way that was watching."
Jessica Pegula to pair up with Taylor Fritz for their mixed doubles match at the United Cup
Following her dominating win over three-time Grand Slam singles winner Iga Swiatek in the United Cup semifinals, Jessica Pegula will gear up for the mixed doubles on Saturday (January 7). However, if Taylor Fritz wins his singles match on Saturday, Team USA will directly qualify for the final of the United Cup.
As things stand, Team USA leads 2-0 against Team Poland, and as per the schedule, Pegula is expected to partner up with Taylor Fritz in their mixed doubles battle against the Polish duo of Swiatek and Hubert Hurkacz.