NEW YORK -- While the Paris Olympics added to an already crowded summer schedule, Jessica Pegula was one player able to make a nearly perfect transition from the red clay of Roland Garros to the hard courts to North America.

The No.6 seed’s 7-6 (4), 6-3 second-round victory over Sofia Kenin on Thursday was her 11th in 12 matches after winning the title in Toronto and reaching the final in Cincinnati. The 1,650 ranking points she received at those 1000 events vaulted her into the No.7 spot (from No.20) in the PIF race to the WTA Finals.

“I think it’s a little tricky this year, people coming from Paris,” Pegula told reporters before the US Open. “People are just a little bit not as prepared, just with the surface change as well.

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“I think once you get here and if you’ve had good results here especially or you like the hard courts players that play well here will find a way to do that, I think no matter what.”

It was an intriguing matchup with Kenin because the two players have similar games with a steady dose of low, flat shots from the baseline. The win broke a 2-all head-to-head stalemate, but was their first meeting in more than three years.

This match was decided by the thinnest of margins. Pegula converted one more break point than Kenin and had a plus-six in winners/unforced errors, while Kenin was minus-three.

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The first set was all over the place, with the players breaking each other twice in the first six games. It was eventually resolved in a tiebreak, where Pegula was clearly the steadier player.

Kenin was serving at 2-3 in the second set when a double fault gave Pegula the decisive break.

While her first-round win over Shelby Rogers was straightforward, it was a little disjointed because Rogers is a good friend and was playing what turned out to be her first singles match. Pegula said afterward she felt in a better rhythm against Kenin.

At 3-4, 15-40 in the first set, Pegula -- who rarely shows much emotion on the court -- slammed her racquet down.

“I was very pissed off at the time, not happy,” she said, laughing. “I know I don’t show a lot of emotion, but I still get upset. Sometimes it’s good to show a little bit of emotion, and I knew that was a big moment.

“I knew that if I could get out of that game, obviously it shifted the entire first set.”

After the match, Pegula returned to the practice court to work on her service returns. She won only 27 of 70 return points against Kenin.

“I don't do it that often,” Pegula said. “I just felt like I wasn't returning that great. So I just went out and hit a couple of more returns. I have a day off tomorrow, so we had some time and a court was open.

“It’s never really just to hit-hit. It’s usually a specific thing I’m working on.”

Pegula, one of six American women into the third round of the US Open, is a certified flag-waving, born-in-the-USA athlete after competing at the Olympics in both singles and doubles. But when it comes to her fellow Americans, well, she has shown no mercy. After defeating Kenin, Pegula is now 11-0 against opponents playing for the United States.

She has reached six career Grand Slam quarterfinals, but never advanced further.

“It would be frickin’ awesome if I won a Grand Slam,” Pegula said. “I definitely allow myself to dream, I always have since I was a kid. So I think you have to take yourself to those moments.

“I would love to be able to say that I accomplished that. That’s always my goal going into a Grand Slam. And if it doesn’t happen, I mean, you just try to put yourself in the best possible space to make it happen.”

With a third-round match against unseeded Jessica Bouzas Maneiro and a potential fourth-round matchup with No.18 Diana Shnaider, Pegula could reach that threshold again.