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Karolina Muchova stunned second seed Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday in the French Open semifinals to reach her first Grand Slam final. In the process, she became only the third player ranked outside the WTA top 40 to reach the Roland Garros title match.
In a high-quality last-four clash on Court Philippe Chatrier, the 43rd-ranked Muchova squandered a set point while serving for the first set at 5-4. However, she regrouped to claim the opener in a tiebreak.
A competitive second set ensued, where Muchova led by a break, but Sabalenka raised her level to restore parity after another tiebreak. The reigning Australian Open champion opened up a seemingly insurmountable 5-2 lead in the third and also had a match point before Muchova scripted an improbable turnaround.
Muchova won five straight games to stun Sabalenka, joining Jelena Ostapenko (2017) and current World No. 1 Iga Swiatek (2020) as the only WTA players outside the top 40 to reach the Roland Garros final.
Interestingly, both Ostapenko and Swiatek went on to win the title. Muchova will hope to emulate the same against either Swiatek or Beatriz Haddad Maia, who are contesting the second semifinal. Muchova is 1-0 against Swiatek and 2-0 against Haddad Maia.
Karolina Muchova set to return to top 20, eyeing career-best ranking
In one of the WTA matches of the season, Karolina Muchova fought back from the brink to oust Aryna Sabalenka.
Producing an imperious performance, especially on the return, the Czech converted all five break point chances, including the last one in the 11th game of the decider before serving out the biggest win of her career. In stark contrast, the error-prone Sabalenka only went four of 13 on break points in the contest.
Following the win, Muchova improved to a perfect 5-0 against top-3 opponents and is guaranteed a return to the top 20 of the WTA rankings. If she goes all the way, she will break into the top ten for the first time in her career.
The 26-year-old is the fifth Czech woman in the Open Era to reach the Roland Garros final, joining the legendary Martina Navratilova and her current contemporaries Lucie Safarova, Marketa Vondrousova and Barbora Krejcikova.
Among the quartet, Navratilova (1982, 1984) and Krejcikova (2021) went all the way. Safarova lost to Serena Williams in the 2015 final, while Vondrousova fell short against Ashleigh Barty four years later.
Karolina Muchova will hope to join Navratilova and Krejikova on Saturday.
