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New York — jessica pegula She could not do much at the start of her first Grand Slam semifinal. Her opponent at the US Open on Thursday night, Karolina MuchovaNo one can do any wrong.
“I was a total failure, but she was playing unbelievable,” Pegula said. “She made me look like a novice. I was about to cry because it was embarrassing. She was ruining me.”
Pegula overcame a sluggish start to come back from a set and a break down to beat Muchova 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 and reach the final at Flushing Meadows. Pegula, the 30-year-old from New York, seeded No. 6, has won 15 of her last 16 matches and will next face No. 2 seeded Justin Bieber. Aryna Sabalenka For the title Saturday.
It will be a replay of last month’s hard-court Cincinnati Open final, which Sabalenka won — the only blemish on Pegula’s post-Olympics record.
“Hopefully,” Pegula said, “I can get some revenge here.”
Pegula’s parents own the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres; her father was in attendance at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Thursday, as were her sister, brother and husband.
Things didn’t look good for Pegula at the start of the cool evening.
Muchova, the 2023 French Open runner-up but unseeded after missing nearly 10 months due to wrist surgery, made full use of her versatility and creativity, qualities that make her very tough to face on any surface.
Slices. Touches at the net. Serves and volleying. Ten of the first 12 winners of the match came from her racket. The first set lasted 28 minutes and Muchova won 30 of the 44 points.
Muchova won eight of the first nine games and was one point away from a 3-0 lead in the second set. But she couldn’t convert a break chance, missing a forehand volley and everything changed.
“I was thinking, ‘OK. That was kind of lucky. You’re still in it,'” Pegula said. “It really comes down to the little moments that change the momentum.”
Soon, the 52nd-ranked Muchova went from not missing a shot to not making one at all. And Pegula turned it around, heeding the advice of her two coaches, who advised mixing up serve and spin and attacking Muchova’s backhand.
“She was everywhere. She started playing better,” Muchova said.
Above all, Pegula displayed the confident brand of tennis she used to beat No. 1 Inga SwiatekOn Wednesday, the five-time major champion defeated Pegula in straight sets. Prior to this success, Pegula was trailing 0-6 in major quarterfinals.
It took a while for Pegula to get going like she did on Thursday, but once she got going, she was unstoppable. Overall, she won nine of 11 games, allowing her to not only win the second set but also take a 3-0 lead in the third set.
“I was able to find a way, find some adrenaline, find my feet. And then at the end of the second set, third set, I started playing the way I wanted to play. It took a while,” Pegula said. “I don’t know how I turned it around.”
Muchova, 28, from the Czech Republic had not lost a set in the tournament till then. But she gradually started to falter. After winning 7-7 points at the net in the first set, she managed to win 15-19 points in the remaining sets. After only seven unforced errors in the first set, she won 33 points in the second and third sets.
And all the while, the crowd that had initially been quiet — save for the occasional shout of “Come on, Jess!” — was roaring.
“Reaching the semifinals and feeling that my game is good, that I can compete against the best players, that I can win against them, it’s something I didn’t know when it would come back to me, and I feel like I’m playing at a good level,” Muchova said. “I’m healthy and I can play more tournaments this year. That’s really the most important thing.”
This was the 25th US Open women’s semifinal in the Open era to feature a 6-1 or 6-0 opening set; before Thursday, only three women had managed to win after losing the first set by that score — Sabalenka (2023), Victoria Azarenka (2020) and Svetlana Kuznetsova (2004).
Pegula’s win means that Both men’s and women’s finals This time an American player will be participating, which is the first time this has happened at a major tournament since Wimbledon in 2009. The last time this happened was at the US Open in 2002; that year, serena williams Defeated venus williamsand Pete Sampras defeated Andre Agassi.
ESPN Stats & Information and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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