Jessica Pegula was on the verge of defeat against Karolina Muchova at the 2024 US Open, but she rallied back to win the match, highlighting the mental battle after it ended.
The American found herself in a very tough spot against Muchova. While they recently faced off at the Cincinnati Open in a match in which Pegula turned around a loss from the opening set to a three-set win, she didn’t look as confident in their meeting in New York.
Muchova dominated her in the opening set and broke first in the second set. The Czech player was playing unbelievable tennis, and Pegula had no answer for it. It didn’t help that she came out flat, which was strange, considering she was almost flawless at the US Open until that point.
She had to find an inspired effort to turn the match around, and Pegula found it. She was down 0-2 and facing a break point to go down 0-3 in the second set, but saved that and ultimately won that set 6-4.
Had she gotten broken, the American would have likely been beaten in two sets, but she found a way to turn the match around, even though she didn’t know how she did it afterward.
"I came out flat, but she was playing unbelievable, she made me look like a beginner. I was about to burst into tears because it was embarrassing, she was destroying me. I don't know how I turned that around, honestly."
The match stats show an interesting picture of this encounter. While Pegula was overwhelmed in the opening set behind 11 winners from Muchova, who played all the crucial rallies better, things shifted a bit in the second set.
The Czech player took an early lead but wasn't hitting as well as she had been before. She tried to maintain her level, especially as more and more resistance came from the other side, but it backfired.
After only seven unforced errors in the opening set, Muchova had 19 in the second, which was far too many, and she ended up losing the set as a result. The reason she lost her serve as often as she did was because she was not able to create enough pressure with it.
The serve had been her go-to weapon throughout the entirety of the US Open, but in this match, Pegula was able to neutralize it as effectively as possible. Muchova did find her serve a bit more in the final set, but she never established the baseline supremacy she had in the opening set.
Too many errors certainly didn’t help, but in many ways, it became a mental battle, and Pegula was able to win it. She battled herself in a mental battle, but she also beat Muchova, which was hugely important for her.
In the final, Pegula will have to take on Aryna Sabalenka, and she's not looking forward to that match because playing against her will be very difficult.
Sabalenka easily won a recent clash between the two, and she will head into the US Open final as the overwhelming favourite to win the match, but the American player wants her revenge.
"Playing Aryna is going to be really tough. She showed how tough she is [in the first semi] and why she’s probably the favourite to win this tournament. It’ll be a rematch of Cincinnati, so hopefully I can get some revenge out here."
"It’s kind of crazy that we’re playing each other again in the finals, but I think it just shows how much great hard-court tennis we’ve been playing. She’s going to be tough to beat, but that’s what the finals are for, so I’m ready."
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