The US Open women's singles tournament is officially down to two players: the world No. 2 and an American in her first career Grand Slam final.
No. 6 Jessica Pegula defeated Karolina Muchova 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 on Thursday to advance to her first major final at age 30. While she has won six WTA events, she had previously never advanced past the quarterfinal of a Grand Slam.
The final is scheduled for Saturday at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Jessica Pegula stuns Karolina Muchova in 3-set comeback
In Muchova, Pegula was facing a former top-10 player who lost most of her points after missing nine months of the previous year.
Muchova opened the match by playing like she never left. She blitzed both of Pegula's serves and won at both the net and baseline, taking the first set easily and going up a break in the second. Pegula's body language clearly showed a player who was down.
"I was about to burst into tears because she was making me look like a beginner. It was embarrassing," Pegula said after the match.
Pegula responded by getting 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, inviting her to even the match.
The momentum held going into the third set, with Pegula breaking Muchova early and holding serve from there to get the biggest win of her career, with the biggest match of her career still awaiting.
Aryna Sabalenka bests Emma Navarro
In their third meeting of the year, No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka overmatched No. 13 Emma Navarro, another American making her first Grand Slam semifinal appearance, in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6 (2).
Despite having the crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium on her side, rooting for the underdog, Navarro had no answer for Sabalenka’s powerful serve (with seven aces) and forehand. Her quickness helped her stay in the match with strong defense. But Navarro frequently had to play defense because she couldn’t take back the game on her second serve.
Just as it seemed like Navarro might fend off Sabalenka’s offense, the No. 2 seed surprised with drop shots. Showing touch closer to the net while Navarro was playing back to catch up with Sabalenka’s power was a combination too difficult to cover. Trying to catch Navarro by surprise occasionally led to unforced errors at times.
However, Sabalenka’s tendency to rely on her power sometimes leaves her prone to watching her serves and returns rather than moving. Navarro took advantage, showing quickness all over the court and occasionally catching Sabalenka flat-footed to win points.
In the second set, Sabalenka won break point with her powerful forehand, despite Navarro’s best efforts to keep up. Trying to maintain her footing while moving quickly side-to-side eventually caused Navarro to slip and scrape her right knee. While that may not have inhibited her physically, it was an indication of how Sabalenka was battering her.
Eventually, Navarro couldn’t slow Sabalenka’s pace down and take more control of the match. Navarro fought back to within 4-3 and 5-4 in the second set, again winning with quickness against Sabalenka’s power.
The second set turned into a clash of agility versus power, with Navarro holding Sabalenka off and getting her frustrated. Navarro's speed along the baseline helped her get to and fight off shots that Sabalenka thought were out of reach.
Yet despite putting up an incredible fight in forcing the second set to a tiebreaker, Navarro had to play catch-up throughout the entire match and it ultimately caught up with her. Sabalenka put up a wall, winning 8 of 10 points and righting herself after getting frustrated from being unable to put Navarro away.
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 in the 2024 US Open.