Incredible turn of events! Muchova defeats the world number two in a dramatic battle and will play the final in Paris

For the second time in her career Karolína Muchová reached the semi-finals of a Grand Slam tournament. After the Australian Open 2021, she did it at the ongoing Roland Garros. Unlike her experience in Melbourne the year before, this time she advanced to the title match by defeating Aryna Sabalenka 2-1 in sets after more than three hours.

Thanks to her quality performance, Muchova became the only unseeded semifinalist at this year’s Paris Tennis Festival. In its course so far she has beaten Maria Sakkari, Nadia Podoroska Irina-Camelia Begu, Elina Avanesianova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

World number two Sabalenka confirmed her role as one of the biggest favourites from the beginning of the tournament. The Belarusian took on Marta Kostyukova, Iryna Shymanovic, Kamilla Rachimova, Sloane Stephens and Elina Svitolina.

Thursday afternoon’s semifinal clash was the second time these players played each other. In the first one, the Olomouc native lost to her opponent from Minsk after 5:7 and 6:7 sets. It was a hard surface match at the 2019 WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai.

On the Philippe Chatrier court, both tennis players held their own serve for a long time in the opening set. At 4:4, the Czech, who is ranked 43rd on the rankings, reached the break, but her opponent corrected her hesitation immediately afterwards.

The tiebreak had to be decided in the final set, which lasted more than an hour, and the tennis remained very even. But when Muchová used a set point with a successful backhand shot down the line, she was able to enjoy a 7:5 victory in the shortened game.

At the beginning of the second game, Sabalenka started to make more errors and was soon down 0: 2, but she quickly corrected that and evened the match with her Czech opponent.

Subsequently, each player scored one more lost service, so the tiebreak proved to be crucial again. In this case, the Belarusian champion of this year’s Australian Open was more successful, also winning 7:5.

During the deciding set, the events on the Paris clay were also affected by signs of physical decline, more so for Karolina Muchova. However, when at 2::5 it seemed that Sabalenka was confidently heading to the final, the Czech fought back.

Also thanks to the mistakes of the favourite, the whole match culminated in a big Czech turnaround in the third set. Thanks to Muchova’s 7:6, 6:7 and 7:5 win, the Czech tennis team is again represented in the women’s singles final in Paris after two years. Will the twenty-six year old follow up the victorious Barbora Krejcikova?

In Saturday’s final, she will face the world number one and defending champion Iga Świąteková or the current number 14 in the singles rankings, Beatriz Haddad Maia. Live coverage of the French Open will be broadcast by Eurosport.

Source: WTA, French Open, Eurosport 1