Jessica Pegula and Taylor Townsend were nearly untouchable on serve today.

Richard PagliaroSeptember 2, 20262 minute read

By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, September 2, 2026
Photo credit: Garrett Ellwood/USTA

American men own some of the dominant deliveries in tennis.

Three of the top seven players on the ATP ace list—ace leader Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton and Brandon Nakashima, who lost to compatriot Alex Michelsen on Grandstand today—are Americans.

Today, American women Jessica Pegula and Taylor Townsend delivered first-serve fireworks.

Left-hander Townsend tossed a first-serve shutout in her 6-1, 6-1 US Open sweep of Taylah Preston on Court 17.

Townsend served 73 percent and won 23 of 23 first serve points and permitted only four points on serve total in a 48-minute obliteration.

 That victory sends Townsend into an all-lefty third-round clash vs. Diana Shnaider.

The 15th-seeded Shnaider stopped former No. 1 Karolina Pliskova 6-1, 7-6(4).

It’s Shnaider’s second Grand Slam win of the season over a current or former No. 1. Shnaider shocked top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 en route to the Roland Garros semifinals.

The 2024 US Open finalist Pegula won 19 of 22 first-serve points dismissing 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin 6-3, 6-1 in 56 minutes.

Pegula exploited three unforced errors and a double fault to score the opening break. 

After Kenin scored her second straight love hold to close the gap to 3-4, Pegula reeled off seven straight games erupting for a 6-3, 5-0 lead as a harried Kenin rushed through points and made gestures of frustration toward her father and coach Alex Kenin. 

Overall, Pegula won 19 of 22 first-serve points and dropped only seven points on serve total against the former No. 3. All this one round after Pegula won 23 of 25 first-serve points in a 6-3, 6-2 first-round victory over Elena-Gabriela Ruse.

“I’m going for my spots, going pretty big on second serves and just trust I can hit good serves in the moment,” Pegula said. “So really excited when I can practice something and it works in the match.”

The Charleston champion Pegula, who was runner-up in both Washington, DC and Cincinnati, will face 2021 US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez in a third-round clash of former Flushing Meadows finalists.

Pegula has beaten the 33rd-ranked Canadian in three of four meetings.