No. 6 seed Jessica Pegula advanced to her first ever major Grand Slam after a 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over Karolina Muchova on Thursday night. The full battle at Arthur Ashe Stadium lasted over two hours.
“It comes down to really small moments that flip the momentum,” Pegula said. “I came out flat but she was playing unbelievable. She made me look like a beginner, I was like about to burst into tears because it was embarrassing. She was destroying me.”
Pegula will be facing No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka on Saturday, which will be a rematch of the Cincinnati Open title match in August.
Muchova seemed in control during the first set, which lasted just 28 minutes. The Czech star only registering seven unforced errors and scored a pair of break points against Pegula to cruise to the win. However, her game didn’t stay as clean as she committed 19 unforced errors in the second.
At this point, Pegula started gaining momentum and made it a very competitive second set that lasted almost an hour. Muchova made a lot of forehand errors, and Pegula made a comeback from down 0-2, 30-40 to break Muchova twice and take the set 6-4.
“I was able to find a way, find some adrenaline, find my legs,” Pegula said. “At the end of the second set into the third set, I started to play how I wanted to play. It took a while but I don’t know how I turned that around honestly.”
Muchova left the court for about six minutes before the decider, but it didn’t shake Pegula and the match stayed competitive.
Pegula had never made it to a major semifinal before, and this season has been a tough one because of injuries. However, she has definitely proven to be a tough opponent. To make it to this semifinal, Pegula had to get past world No. 1 Iga Swiatek.
Sabalenka took the win in the last meeting between the two in Cincinnati 6-3, 7-5. She leads their all-time series 5-2, but one of Pegula’s wins came at the WTA Finals last year when she won 6-4, 6-3.
Pegula has won 15 of her last 16 matches, and that lone loss was against Sabalenka in Cincinnati.
“Playing Aryna is going to be really tough,” Pegula said. “She showed how tough she is and why she is probably the favorite to win this tournament. It will be a rematch of Cincinnati, so hopefully I can get some revenge out here.”
