US Open 2024: Jessica Pegula reaches first EVER Grand Slam final after overcoming early wobble vs Karolina Muchova to set up Aryna Sabalenka showdown
Jessica Pegula could do nothing right at the start of her first Grand Slam semifinal. Her US Open opponent on Thursday night, Karolina Muchova, could do nothing wrong.
“I came out flat, but she played unbelievable. She made me look like a beginner,” Pegula said. “I was about to burst into tears because it was embarrassing. She destroyed me.”
Pegula managed to shake off that slow start and came back from a set and a break down to beat Muchova 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 for a place in the final at Flushing Meadows. The No. 6 seed a 30-year-old from New York who has never played in a Grand Slam final, has won 15 of her last 16 matches and will face No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka for the title on Saturday.
Sabalenka, second last year to Coco Gauff At the US Open, she returned to the championship match by holding off a late push to defeat No. 13 Emma Navarro of the United States 6-3, 7-6 (2).
Jessica Pegula reached her first ever Grand Slam final at the US Open on Thursday night
It will be a repeat of last month’s final on the hardcourt of the Cincinnati Open, which Sabalenka won. That is the only blemish on Pegula’s record after the Olympics.
âHopefully I can get some revenge here,â said Pegula, whose parents own the Buffalo Bills (NFL) and the Buffalo Sabres (NHL).
“Playing Aryna is going to be really tough. I mean, she’s shown how tough she is and why she’s probably the favorite to win this tournament.”
Things didnât look promising for Pegula Thursday morning. Not at all.
Muchova, the 2023 French Open runner-up but unseeded after a roughly 10-month absence due to wrist surgery, used all her versatility and creativity, the qualities that make her so difficult to handle on any surface. The slices. The touch at the net. The serve-and-volley. Ten of the matchâs first 12 winners came off her racquet. The first set lasted 28 minutes, and Muchova won 30 of the 44 points.
After winning eight of the first nine games, Muchova was just one point away from a 3-0 lead in the second set. But she couldn’t convert a break chance there, she messed up a forehand volley from a slice by Pegula, and everything changed.
Pegula lost a set against Karolina Muchova after a great start to the match
But she recovered strongly to beat Muchova to reach the final this weekend.
The 30-year-old had never reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam until this week
“I thought, ‘Okay. That was a little bit of luck. You’re still in it,'” Pegula said. “It comes down to really small moments that change the momentum.”
Quickly, the 52nd-seeded Muchova went from not being able to miss a shot to not being able to make one. And Pegula turned it on, heeding the advice of her two coaches to mix up her serves and spins to get more of Muchova’s backhand. Most of all, Pegula showed the confident tennis she used to knock out No. 1 Iga Swiatek, a five-time major champion, in straight sets on Wednesday. Pegula had been 0-6 in major quarterfinals before that breakthrough.
It took Pegula a while to get going on Thursday, but once she got going, whoa, she did. All told, she won nine of 11 games, a stretch that not only saw her turn the second set but race to a 3-0 lead in the third.
“I was able to find a way, find some adrenaline, find my legs. And then, at the end of the second set, in the third set, I started playing the way I wanted to play. It took a while,” Pegula said. “I don’t know how I turned that around.”