Aryna Sabalenka made it to the 2024 China Open quarter-final, but Karolina Muchova proved to be too strong for her, as she stunned her in three sets.
Muchova is one of the best players in the world when she's playing close to her best or at her best. She's proven it over and over again, most recently at the US Open, where she once again played some spectacular tennis.
Her great performances got her to the China Open quarter-final, in which she was facing Sabalenka. It's an exciting matchup because the Czech player gave Sabalenka some major trouble in the past.
In the three matches they played so far, Muchova was able to win two of those, and they were some huge matches. The Roland Garros semi-final was one of the matches that was very painful for Sabalenka, as she lost a big lead, even having a match point.
In their quarter-final match at the WTA 1000 event in Beijing, the first set was super close, with Muchova wasting a couple of early break points and Sabalenka, who was on a 15-match winning streak, wasting set points later.
Both served extremely well because they had to since both were aggressive on the return. Muchova was a bit better, but still couldn’t break Sabalenka's serve. On top of that, the Czech player had to face set points, but her serve bailed her out when she faced set points, as Muchova saved all of them with good serves.
It was just a great battle between two very strong players playing some super solid tennis. Sabalenka tried too much at times, which is why she struggled to really win points on Muchova's second serve.
Those were golden chances that she missed because she tried to push a bit too much, but it only shows what kind of respect Muchova commands. Rallies weren't what Sabalenka was looking for.
The first set was settled in a tie-break, which was close, but for most of it, Muchova did seem like the slightly better player. When it really came down to it, she had the more reliable serve and more tricks up her sleeve, with a few slices and a drop shot that won her one point.
She was a bit lucky as well, but she was good enough to win the tie-break 7-5. The second set started fairly for both as neither had issues in the first service game.
Sabalenka had a break point and converted it to take a 2-1 lead. She then held for a 3-1 lead and nearly made it 4-1 by breaking once more, but Muchova held to keep herself in the set.
Sabalenka eventually still got the second break and won the second set 6-2, completely shifting the momentum of the set. It was a tremendous fightback from the reigning US Open champion.
She then broke early in the third, completely overwhelming Muchova to take a 1-0 and then a 2-0 lead. It wasn't smooth sailing until the end, though, because she lost her serve but was able to break again to take a 3-2 lead.
It seemed like the match would be over, but it wasn't, as Sabalenka once again lost a big lead against Muchova. Almost identical to their Roland Garros match, Sabalenka came very close to winning, but Muchova staged an incredible comeback to win four games in a row, winning the match 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-4.