PARIS — Karolina Muchova will take on defending champion Iga Swiatek in the French Open final after saving a match point to knock out Aryna Sabalenka.
The unseeded Czech fought back from 5-2 down in the deciding set to claim a 7-6 (5) 6-7 (5) 7-5 victory on Thursday in a tremendous contest lasting three hours and 13 minutes.
It was a stunning performance from Muchova but also a stunning collapse from Australian Open champion Sabalenka who, having held match point, won just four of the next 24 points.
“I got on the better wave,” said the world number 43. “I could see that she was struggling a little bit and doing fast mistakes. I was just trying to keep her there.”
The expected battle between the world’s top two players did not materialize but Swiatek kept up her end of the bargain with a 6-2 7-6 (7) victory over Beatriz Haddad Maia and will be a strong favourite to win a third Roland Garros crown on Saturday and fourth slam overall.
If Muchova can produce the same all-court wiles she showed against Belarusian Sabalenka, though, she could yet become the latest surprise slam champion.
The 26-year-old was playing in her second slam semi-final having also reached the last four at the Australian Open in 2021, but injuries severely restricted her last year, with her ranking dropping outside the top 200.
Muchova said: “Some doctors told me, ‘Maybe you’ll not do sport anymore’. But I always kept it positive in my mind and tried to work and do all the exercises to be able to come back.
“I think everything has its own time. In the past, it was not easy. That’s actually what makes me appreciate this result even more now, because I know what I have been through in the past.
“To be now in a grand slam final, it’s for sure my dream. I’m super, super glad that I’m here and that I’m going to play finals on Saturday.”
Sabalenka, who has found attention more for her off-court views than her tennis this fortnight, made the faster start but Muchova grew steadily into the match and made the first big move, breaking for 5-4.
Back came Sabalenka immediately, though, a forehand winner saving a set point and then more crunching groundstrokes earning her the break.
It was a compelling contest between the raw power and aggression of Sabalenka and the more subtle skills of Muchova, who gave a masterful display of using angles and changes of direction as well as being very willing to come to the net.
She is not averse to a winner, too, and produced one from the top drawer on her second set point at 6-5 in the tie-break, drilling a backhand down the line.
The old Sabalenka might have fallen away quickly in a barrage of errors after being broken at the start of the second set but she regrouped impressively, thumped groundstrokes with ever greater intensity, and levelled the match.
When pressure in the decider finally told on Muchova as Sabalenka broke for 4-2, it seemed the script was written, but the ending did not play out as the second seed had hoped.
