NEW YORK — Jessica Pegula is back in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament, which used to be her roadblock .

The way Pegula is playing at this U.S. Open , it may be just another stop on the way back to the final.

The No. 4 seed rolled into the last eight by routing fellow American Ann Li 6-1, 6-2 in just 54 minutes on Sunday. She will face Barbora Krejcikova on Tuesday after the two-time Grand Slam champion fought off eight match points in a second set that ended with a 25-minute tiebreaker and beat Taylor Townsend 1-6, 7-6 (13), 6-3 .

Townsend was trying to reach her first quarterfinal in her 31st Grand Slam appearance.

Pegula hasn’t dropped a set this year at Flushing Meadows, and only once was she even kept on court for more than 1 hour, 15 minutes.

“Probably the best

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