Karolína Muchová in the crash. Will she be the surprise of the tournament?

Karolína Muchová will have the biggest match of her career tomorrow at 1am. In the quarterfinals of the Australian Open she will play against the world number one Ashleigh Barty. What are her chances? What could make the difference? Will the Czech Republic have a representative in the semi-finals of a grand slam after 2 years?

The shortened 2020 season was very short for Muchova. She reached the 8th round of the US Open. But other than that, no glory. She’s been limited by injuries. She couldn’t play as much as she wanted to, and it showed in her performance.

She’s been through a lot this season. She didn’t play 2 matches because of abdominal muscle problems. It was a question of what form she would be in for the opening grand slam of the season.

However, she had a good start to the tournament and is improving with every match. She’s confident. Her smart tennis is working. This could be the grand slam where she finally breaks through and starts to reach her full potential.

She’s had quite a tough road to the quarterfinals. She had to beat Ostapenko, Barthel, Pliskova and Mertens. Especially the last two wins are very valuable. She was the underdog in both matches.

Against Pliskova, she took advantage of her opponent’s poor form and made a phenomenal turnaround from 0:5 to 7:5 in the second set. Against Mertens, she turned the 1st set from 0:4 to 7:5. Finally, she beat the Belgian 7::5, 7::6, reversing her defeat from last year.

The Moravian native reached the top 8 without losing a set and advanced to the quarterfinals of a grand slam for the first time in her career.

And what are the chances for the promising Muchova? In terms of numbers, it’s 35 to 65. Barty is the clear favorite. After a year away from tennis, she’s in great shape. But several factors also speak for the Olomouc tennis player.

It will be played without spectators to drive the Australian to advance. Barty had an easy draw. No opponent forced her to show her best tennis. She didn’t have any tough moments in her matches.

Muchova has had a few in the last 2 matches and she has handled them superbly. She’s strong on big points and handles the end of sets very well. She is very mentally strong in this tournament.

It will also be interesting to see which player will.more dictate the game. They both play a very similar style. Their tennis is variable, they like to go to the net, they often use nasty slams.

The favourite will have a slight advantage on serve. Her serve is excellent. It’s going to be pretty even. It could be decided by a couple of big balls and how the tennis players handle those big moments.

Muchova is ready. She’s ready, both mentally and game-wise. She has nothing to lose, only to gain. Playing her tennis and not admitting what’s at stake. That’s the key to success. The quarterfinals don’t have to be the final. Wednesday morning will tell. whether the Moravian tennis player’s grand slam run will continue.