Karolina Muchova, 10th in the world, qualified for her first semi-final at the US Open on Tuesday by defeating Romania’s Sorana Cirstea (30th) in two short sets (6-0, 6-3). “It’s incredible, what a sweet victory,” said the 27-year-old Czech who will face the American nugget Coco Gauff (6th) on Thursday for a place in the final, her second in the Grand Slam this year after Roland-Garros. She had never passed the 8th finals at Flushing Meadows. Gauff “is a great player and she will have the crowd with her. But I hope to be able to deliver a good match,” said Muchova.
Tuesday in the quarters, she put an end to the beautiful course of Cirstea who, at 33, had notably eliminated in the third round the 4th world Elena Rybakina. By taking advantage of his opponent’s unforced errors (12), and hitting him with winning shots (14) Muchova has played six games in a row. Some of these games, however, were very addictive, like the fourth: Muchova saved nine break points and concluded on her third game point in more than a quarter of an hour. Surprisingly, the Czech took a bathroom break after this round. On the restart, Cirstea won her first game of the game.
“You hit well, now hit a few, take risks, I don’t care if you put some out,” his coach Thomas Johansson told him. Indeed, the Romanian succeeded in the break in stride. But she did not keep her advantage for long, since the Czech immediately broke and reattached at 2-2. And Mouchova made the decisive break to lead 4-3. She confirmed at 5-3 and took the opposing serve one last time, finishing with a big winning forehand. In total, the statistics prove how much the Czech dominated the match: 32 winning points for 15 unforced errors (12 and 19 for Cirstea), six break points converted out of eleven created and ten break points saved out of eleven to defend.
