American Jessica Pegula will face Aryna Sabalenka in the US Open women's final

Associated Press
| Associated Press

New York – Jessica Pegula overcame a slow start and rallied from a set and a break down at the US Open to defeat Karolina Muchova 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 on Thursday night and earn a spot in her first Grand Slam final.

The 30-year-old Pegula, seeded No. 6 from New York, has won 15 of her last 16 matches and will face No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka for the title on Saturday.

Sabalenka, last year’s runner-up to Coco Gauff at Flushing Meadows, stormed back into the championship match by holding off a late surge to beat No. 13 Emma Navarro of the U.S. 6-3, 7-6 (2).

FULL RESULTS OF THE US OPEN

Things didn’t look promising for Pegula at first. Muchova, the 2023 French Open runner-up but unseeded after missing about 10 months due to wrist surgery, used every ounce of her versatility and creativity, the traits that make her so difficult to play against on any surface.

The slices. The touch on the net. The serves and volleys. Ten of the first 12 winners of the match came with her racket. The first set lasted 28 minutes and Muchova won 30 of the 44 points.

“I was discouraged, but she was playing amazing. She made me look like a beginner,” Pegula said. “I was about to burst into tears because it was so embarrassing. She was destroying me.”

Muchova won eight of the first nine games and was one point away from leading 3-0 in the second set. But she failed to convert a break chance there, missed a forehand volley and everything changed.

The 52nd-ranked Muchova quickly went from not being able to miss a shot to not being able to hit one. And Pegula did, displaying the confident style of tennis she used to dispatch No. 1 Iga Swiatek, a five-time major champion, in straight sets on Wednesday. Pegula was 0-6 in major tournament quarterfinals before that breakthrough.

Muchova, a 28-year-old Czech who had never dropped a set in the tournament, began to falter. After going 7-for-7 in points at the net in the first set, she went 11-for-19 in the second. After committing just seven unforced errors in the first set, she made 19 in the second.

And all the while, the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd, which had initially remained stagnant (save for the occasional chant of “Go, Jess!”), was roaring.

Navarro American Falls

When things suddenly got pretty tense in the second set of Aryna Sabalenka’s US Open semi-final, with the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd suddenly getting pretty loud in support of her American opponent, the 2023 runner-up found herself recalling what happened a year ago at the same venue.

“I thought, ‘OK, Aryna, you have to stay focused. Don’t get sidetracked by your thoughts. Focus on yourself,’” Sabalenka said. “And yes, I was thinking a lot.”

No. 2 seed Sabalenka advanced to her second straight final at Flushing Meadows with a strong start and a late comeback, taking the final seven points to beat Emma Navarro 6-3, 7-6 (2) on Thursday night with her usual high-risk, high-reward style of tennis.

Sabalenka, a 26-year-old Belarusian who has won each of the last two Australian Opens, fell one victory short of claiming the championship in New York a year ago, when she lost to Coco Gauff in front of a raucous, partisan crowd.

This time, Sabalenka got past another American opponent, 13th-seeded Navarro, and never let the fans play a big role until things got interesting down the stretch. Knowing she would be facing a U.S. player in this semifinal, Sabalenka joked after her previous match that she would try to convince them to join her by buying alcohol, saying, “Drinks on me tonight?”

Navarro did not give up in the second set, despite trailing for much of it, and as the noise around her grew, she broke serve when Sabalenka served for the 5-4 win.

“I wasn’t prepared for the game to end,” Navarro said.

But in the ensuing tiebreak, Sabalenka took control after Navarro led 2-0, taking all the remaining points.

“At the end of the second set I got going and felt like I could definitely get to the third, but I couldn’t do it,” Navarro said.

Breaking

American Jessica Pegula will face Aryna Sabalenka in the US Open women’s final

ByS. Jacob

Navarro American Falls

By S. Jacob

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