Jessica Pegula is a profit from US Open title.
The American came roaring back from an early deficit to defeat Karolina Muchova — 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 — in her semifinal match at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Thursday night and booked her spot in Saturday’s women’s singles final.
It is the first trip to a Grand Slam final for Pegula, who will face Aryna Sabalenka after the Belarusian star beat New York native Emma Navarro in Thursday’s second semi-final match.
“If you had told me at the beginning of the year that I would be in the final of the US Open, I would have laughed so hard, because there was my head, [I] didn’t think I’d be here,” said Pegula, Buffalo-born daughter of Bills and Sabers owners Terry and Kim Pegula,
“To be able to overcome all these challenges and say I’m getting the shot at the title on Saturday is what we play for as players, let alone to be able to do it in my home country, here at my home Slam. It’s perfect, really.”
Pegula’s prospects to advance appeared bleak after she dropped the last five games of the first set and the first two games of the second. But Pegula locked in and won 12 of the match’s final 14 games to advance past the Czech-born Muchova.
Pegula had not made it past a major quarterfinal before this Open. She rolled through the first five rounds of the past two weeks without dropping a set – a run that included eliminating top-seeded Iga Świątek in Wednesday night’s quarter-finals.
“Before the game with Iga I was a lot more nervous and today I was just like whatever,” Pegula said with a laugh. “Maybe it was bad, because I definitely came out super flat. I tried to think maybe it was a good thing that I felt really loose, but clearly I was a little too loose.
Pegula looks set to become the sixth American woman to win the Open since 1998. The previous five have combined for 11 titles in that stretch, including Coco Gauff’s last year.
Muchova lost in last year’s Open semifinals to Gauff and then underwent wrist surgery in February. Like Pegula, 28-year-old Muchova did not drop a set in this Open before Thursday’s semifinal. Her path included defeated two-time Open champion Naomi Osaka in the second round.
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