Karolina Muchova reaches her maiden Roland Garros semi-finals
Czech tennis star Karolina Muchova delivered an exceptional performance to beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5, 6-2 to reach her maiden Roland Garros semi-finals. The match lasted an hour and 38 minutes. This is the farthest Muchova has come at Roland Garros. Her previous best result in Paris was reaching the third round, which she achieved in the last couple of years. Here's more.
Here are the match stats
Muchova struck 21 winners in the game in comparison to Pavlyuchenkova's 16. However the latter had two aces in the game. The Czech had won 88% of her net points. She fired the fastest serve of the match (182 KPH). Muchova won 5/11 break points. Muchova only made 15 unforced errors to Pavlyuchenkova's 29, while the latter won only 50% of her net points.
First-ever Roland Garros semi-final appearance
Muchova has made it to only four Grand Slam quarter-finals and this was her first in Paris. Also, this was her first quarterfinal appearance since Wimbledon in 2021. After defeating Pavlyuchenkova, she has now matched her best Grand Slam performance when she reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open in 2021. So this will be her second Grand Slam semi-final appearance.
Stellar record against top 10 opponents
As per Opta, when Muchova defeated Maria Sakkari in the first round of the 2023 Roland Garros, she became the first Czech female player to win four-plus consecutive Grand Slam matches against top 10 opponents since Jana Novotna. The latter had won five between Wimbledon and US Open in 1998. Muchova has beaten Karolina Pliskova, Ashleigh Barty, and Sakkari (twice) for this record.
A look at her semi-final opponent
Muchova will aim to reach her first-ever Grand Slam final. She will face the reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals. Sabalenka defeated Elina Svitolina in the quarter-finals. Both players will be playing in their first-ever Roland Garros semi-finals.
