Karolina Muchova was the first player to reach the women’s singles final Roland Garros reached in 2023. The Czech shocked second seed Aryna Sabalenka 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 7-5 in a high quality and entertaining semifinal on Thursday.
Muchova, in 43rd place, needed three hours and 13 minutes to win. Both players started the match with an impressive shooting performance, which often resulted in errors. In the opener, Sabalenka was the first to earn break points but Muchova was the first to secure a break.
However, with Muchova securing the set in the 10th game, Sabalenka secured the break and the set had to be decided by a tiebreak. Muchova again led 4-2 in the tie-break, but Sabalenka kept catching up.
Finally, Muchova conquered the set with her first set ball at a score of 6:5 in the tie-break. Both players traded two breaks of serve in the second set before another tie break came into play that decided the outcome of the set and possibly the match.
This time, Sabalenka kept her nerves in check before conceding the set like her opponent after taking the first set point when the score was 6-5 in the tiebreaker. The third set seemed to go in Sabalenka’s favor as the 25-year-old secured a break in the sixth game and then consolidated the break to a 5-2 lead.
Muchova managed to stay in the game in game eight and had a match point, but a winner with her racquet killed Sabalenka’s chance. From that point on, the 26-year-old never looked back in the match.
Sabalenka didn’t even get another match point as she served for the match and gave her serve away. In the 11th game, she failed to hold her serve after having two cues and taking a 6-5 lead in the set.
In contrast, Muchova earned three match points after securing the break and serving for the match, converting the first of those three points due to an error by Sabalenka.
Roland Garros: Karolina Muchova reaches her first Slam final
Both players tried to outdo each other. Muchova in particular was better at this as she kept putting her shots into the corners at the baseline.
In trying to achieve this, Sabalenka invariably had to leave the field open and Muchova was able to hit cheap winners. To prevent Muchova from getting the shots she wanted, Sabalenka tried to overplay and ended up making more mistakes.
Sabalenka ended the match with 53 winners, 26 more than her opponent’s 27. She had 44 penalties, while the Czech had 37. The Roland Garros semi-final was the first major match Aryna Sabalenka lost in 2023.
She went into the match on an 11-match winning streak. For Karolina Muchova, this is the first slam final of her career. She now meets either Iga Swiatek or the number 14 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia.
2023-06-09 08:14:13
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