American rallies from a set and a break down to overcome Muchova
©Corinne Dubreuil / FFTThings were not looking great for Jessica Pegula in her maiden Grand Slam semi-final against Karolina Muchova at the US Open on Thursday.
The home favourite lost eight of the first nine games to Muchova, who swiftly led 6-1, 2-0 and looked on track to reach the second major final of her career, with a break point in hand for a 3-0 lead.
“It was embarrassing, she was destroying me,” Pegula later said of her start to the match.
The American once famously said, “I’m just tough”, when explaining how she pulled off a comeback in an on-court interview, and on Thursday she demonstrated precisely that.
The No.6 seed staved off the break point, broke Muchova back, and began making headway in her opponent’s service games.
Pegula pounced on Muchova’s second serve, limiting her to a mere 20 percent success rate behind that shot in the second set, compared to 70 percent in the first. She extended the rallies, found depth on her shots, and made it harder for Muchova to attack the net.
The decider was a tug of war, as Muchova began to go for broke after falling behind 0-3 to Pegula.
Despite her best efforts, Muchova couldn’t narrow her deficit as Pegula punched her ticket to the first Grand Slam final of her career with a 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 success.
Pegula improved to 15-1 win-loss this North American hard-court swing, and gets a Cincinnati final rematch with No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka in New York on Saturday.
"It's amazing. It's a childhood dream. It's what I wanted when I was a kid. It's a lot of work, a lot of hard work put in. You couldn't even imagine how much goes into it," said Pegula of reaching the final at her home Slam.
"It would mean the world to me. I'm just happy to be in a final, but obviously I come here to want to win the title. If you would have told me at the beginning of the year I'd be in the finals of the US Open, I would have laughed so hard, because that just was where my head was, was not thinking that I would be here.
"So to be able to overcome all those challenges and say that I get a chance at the title Saturday is what we play for as players, let alone being able to do that in my home country here, in my home Slam. It's perfect, really."
On her part, Muchova can take great pride in reaching a second consecutive US Open semi-final after staying out of the game for 10 months and undergoing wrist surgery in February.
"I just lost half hour ago, of course now I'm not thinking that much about positives. But for sure to even get to the semis and to feel that my game is there, that I can compete against the best, I can win against them, it's something that I didn't know when it will come back to me, and I feel I'm playing good level," said Muchova.
"I'm healthy and I can play more tournaments this year. That's actually the most important thing."
When Sabalenka got broken while serving for the victory against Emma Navarro in the US Open semi-finals on Thursday, she did everything she could to banish any residual scars from losing to home favourite Coco Gauff in the final last year in front of a roaring crowd rooting against her in Arthur Ashe stadium.
“I was like, ‘Okay Aryna, you have to stay focused, stay in your thoughts, focus on yourself’, and I was thinking a lot and I was like, ‘No guys, not this time’,” said Sabalenka of her inner dialogue during those stressful closing games against Navarro.
The self-pep talk worked as Sabalenka recovered to claim a 6-3, 7-6(2) victory over American No.13 seed Navarro to become the first woman since Serena Williams in 2018-19 to reach back-to-back US Open finals.
Gunning for a third major title, to go with the 2023 and 2024 Australian Open trophies in her cabinet, Sabalenka enters Saturday’s final having won 26 of her last 27 matches at hard-court Grand Slams.
The 26-year-old is also on an 11-match winning streak, with a title run in Cincinnati under her belt coming into the US Open.
“I had really tough lessons here in the past. I think I had so many opportunities here, but I didn't use it for different reasons. I wasn't ready. Then I got emotional. Then I just couldn't handle the crowd,” reflected Sabalenka, who fell in the semis in New York in 2021 and 2022 before placing runner-up in 2023.
“Every time I'm coming back here, I have this positive thinking, like, ‘Come, on, maybe this time’. Every time I'm hoping that one day I'll be able to hold that beautiful trophy.
“The tough losses never (discouraged me). It's only motivated me to come back and to try one more time, to try harder. I'm still hoping to hold that beautiful trophy.”
A clean opening set from the No.2 seed saw her fire 16 winners against 11 unforced errors to take the lead over Navarro in 35 minutes on Thursday evening.
Sabalenka carved out a 4-2 gap in the second set, and was winning the majority of the points on her own serve, up until when it mattered the most. Serving for a place in the final at 5-4, Sabalenka blinked as Navarro found an opening and broke back to level for 5-5.
Sabalenka dug deep to take the set to a tiebreak and regained control of the match to secure the victory on the 90-minute mark.
Despite the loss, Navarro has plenty to be proud of as she walks away as a first-time Grand Slam semi-finalist and a top-10 debutante.
“It's crazy to have come into this tournament almost two weeks ago, and, you know, I was kind of joking a little bit with my team, but a little bit serious, as well, that I was looking to win one match at the US Open, and now to be leaving having made a run and gotten to the semi-finals, and now I'm a top-10 player,” said Navarro, who was ranked 57 in the world this time last year.
“It's pretty crazy, and I think it's a testament to a lot of hard work. Definitely leaving with a lot of positives.”
Sabalenka was an impressive 14/17 at the net against Navarro in the semi-finals.
Sabalenka has saved 21/27 break points through six matches this fortnight, holding serve in 89 percent of her service games (51/57). That is the third-highest percentage across the entire women’s field at this US Open.
Pegula has now reached a third consecutive final – won Toronto and was runner-up in Cincinnati – and has made four finals from her last seven tournaments.
At 30 years old, Pegula is the oldest American in the Open Era to reach a maiden women’s singles final at a Grand Slam event.
Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori are the first all-Italian team to win a Grand Slam mixed doubles title, thanks to their 7-6(0), 7-5 triumph over American duo Taylor Townsend and Donald Young on Thursday.
“This isn’t the trophy that we wanted, but at the end of the day, I’m the only black woman left in the tournament and there are two black men left in the draw. Ultimately, I just hope that Donald and I standing here today, Frances in the semi-finals, Coco being a defending champion, just shows people that look like us that it’s possible. And standing here today with Donald means the world to me because he’s been in my life forever and I was able to be close up to him when he was a junior, winning junior Wimbledon, winning junior Australian Open, and being able to come home and to see someone doing this at such a high level, it inspired me and I honestly don’t know if I’d be here today if it wasn’t for him and his family, so thank you.”
– A runner-up in mixed doubles alongside her fellow American Donald Young, Taylor Townsend continues to be a true inspiration.
She may have lost the match but Muchova no doubt made quite the impression on the Arthur Ashe crowd with points like these.
ROLAND-GARROS
19 May - 8 June 2025
