by The US Open women’s singles tournament is officially played between two players: the world number 2 and an American who is participating in her first career Grand Slam final.
No. 6 Jessica Pegula beat Karolina Muchova 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 on Thursday to advance to her first major final at age 30. Although she won six WTA events, she had never advanced beyond the quarterfinals of a competition. Grand Slam.
The final is scheduled for Saturday at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Jessica Pegula stuns Karolina Muchova in 3-set comeback
In Muchova, Pegula faced a former top 10 player who lost most of her points after missing nine months the previous year.
Muchova opened the match playing as if she had never left. She blitzed both of Pegula’s serves and won at the net and baseline, easily winning the first set and coming back from a break in the second. Pegula’s body language clearly showed a downed player.
“I was about to burst into tears because she made me look like a beginner. It was embarrassing,” Pegula said after the match.
Pegula responded by becoming more aggressive on Muchova’s second serve, while cleaning up her service game. She was also helped by 19 unforced errors from Muchova in the second set, prompting her to level the match.
The momentum carried into the third set, with Pegula breaking Muchova early and holding serve from there to claim the biggest victory of her career, with the biggest match of her career still pending.
Aryna Sabalenka defeats Emma Navarro
In their third meeting of the year, No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka dominated No. 13 Emma Navarro, another American making her first Grand Slam semifinal appearance, in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6 (2).
Despite the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd being on his side, supporting the underdog, Navarro had no answer to Sabalenka’s powerful serve (with seven aces) and forehand. Her speed helped her stay in the game with strong defense. But Navarro often had to play defense because she couldn’t get back into the match on her second serve.
When it looked like Navarro might fend off Sabalenka’s offense, the No. 2 seed surprised with drop shots. Showing the touch closer to the net while Navarro played behind to catch Sabalenka’s power was too difficult a combination to cover. Trying to surprise Navarro sometimes led to unforced errors.
However, Sabalenka’s tendency to rely on her power sometimes leaves her prone to watching her serves and returns rather than making a move. Navarro took advantage, showing speed all over the court and sometimes catching Sabalenka off guard to earn points.
In the second set, Sabalenka won the break point with her powerful forehand, despite Navarro’s efforts to keep pace. While trying to maintain his balance while moving quickly from side to side, Navarro ultimately slipped and scraped his right knee. While it may not have inhibited her physically, it was an indication of how Sabalenka was beating her.
Ultimately, Navarro was unable to slow Sabalenka’s pace and take more control of the match. Navarro came back to 4-3 and 5-4 in the second set, again winning quickly against the power of Sabalenka.
The second set turned into a clash of agility and power, with Navarro holding off Sabalenka and frustrating her. Navarro’s speed along the baseline helped her reach and push away shots that Sabalenka thought were out of reach.
Yet despite putting up an incredible fight to force the second set into a tiebreaker, Navarro had to play catch-up throughout the match and it eventually caught up to her. Sabalenka put up a wall, winning 8 of 10 points and recovering after becoming frustrated at not being able to fend off Navarro.
Sabalenka advances to her second consecutive US Open final.
Here’s how it all went down at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center during the 2024 US Open.
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Pegula wins 1-6, 6-4, 6-2!
The No. 6 seed comes back after a set and a break to qualify for his first career Grand Slam final. She will face No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka on Saturday.
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Pegula goes up 5-2
After Muchova’s racket hit, Pegula won the next two points to maintain her serve and move one game away from victory. She played more conservatively in this set, letting Muchova go for winners and the mistakes that came with them.
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Muchova is visibly frustrated
Muchova did everything she could to tie the match, but another missed break point left her so frustrated that she threw her racket in the air at the end of the point. Fortunately, she caught it too.
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Pegula holds her serve and leads 4-1
At 30, Pegula is two games away from her first career Grand Slam final.
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Pegula gets the break to lead 2-0 in the third
We’ve gone completely backwards here. Pegula takes a significant lead in the third set and Muchova is now shouting in her dressing room. Now it’s Muchova who must make an adjustment.
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Pegula wins the second set
After losing a set and a break, Pegula fought to tie the match and sent it to a third winner. She looked much better in this set, especially after the first two games, but was also helped by 19 unforced errors from Muchova in this setting. She still doesn’t win her first serve enough, taking 13 of the 24 points in this set, but she managed to punish Muchova’s second serve (12 points out of 15 won).
This will be Pegula’s first three-set match in the tournament.
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Muchova comes back immediately, trailing 4-3
It was an eventful second set, as Muchova prevented Pegula from consolidating the break. She also seems to be getting on his side a bit, so she might be dealing with something.
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Pegula takes a 4-2 lead
It was a big problem. After four points, Pegula gets her second break and is now on track to tie this match. She looked completely down a few matches ago, but now she’s pumping it first and she’s screaming. It would be quite a comeback.
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Pegula gets the break, tied 2-2
Finally. It wasn’t Muchova’s best performance, but Pegula is back in this match.
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Pegula enters the board, now down 2-1
All she did was hold her serve, but even that seems important to Pegula at this point. She had to remember a breaking point in the process. Striking stat: She has won 10 of her 22 points on first serve so far. Muchova, meanwhile, has won 15 out of 19. If Pegula can’t turn both in her favor, it’s pretty much game over.
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Pegula gets broken to open the second
It’s all Muchova now. She won all eight points at the net and still shows a clear advantage in baseline rallies. Pegula’s body language isn’t encouraging and she’s going to need a real reversal.
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Arthur Ashe Stadium attempts to bring Pegula back to life
The New York crowd did its best to lift the only American left in the women’s field, cheering her warmly for her first point win in the second set.
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Muchova wins first set 6-1
It was easy, at least after the break points. Muchova was all over the court, feasted on Pegula’s first and second serves and fired 11 winners to Pegula’s three to win the first set convincingly. If Pegula doesn’t get back up to speed, we expect a match lasting less than an hour.
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Then Muchova takes the break, leads 3-1
The Czech veteran looks sharp so far, or at least sharper than Pegula, who made three unforced errors and essentially conceded a match she needed to win.
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Karolina Muchova survives first big game of match to lead 2-1
Tied 1-1, Muchova repelled three break points to maintain her serve in a marathon match. There were some very good points there.
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Muchova wins the first match without much problem
Two unforced errors from Pegula, let’s see how she reacts.
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Muchova and Pegula now enter the field
Two players who have struggled with injuries for most of the year and are now playing in their first US Open final. Pegula is a -155 favorite at BetMGM.
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Sabalenka wins 6-3, 7-6 (2)
Emma Navarro put up an incredible fight as she forced the second set into a tiebreaker. From there, however, Aryna Sabalenka put up a wall, winning 8 out of 10 points and recovering after becoming frustrated at not being able to fend off Navarro.
Navarro had to play catch-up throughout the match and it finally caught up to her. Sabalenka advances to her second consecutive US Open final.
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Sabalenka stands up
Just as the set seemed to be slipping away for Sabalenka, she bounced back with a blistering comeback that Navarro couldn’t access, despite her best efforts. She needed this one.
We are in a tie-break 6-6. Agility versus power.
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Sabalenka becomes frustrated
The inability to put Navarro aside is frustrating for Sabalenka. As a result, she becomes careless and hits balls into the net.
For now, Sabalenka doesn’t seem to have any answers and is turning to her coaches for help. Meanwhile, Navarro gains momentum and the crowd energizes her as she takes a 6-5 advantage.
