NEW YORK (AP) — Jessica Pegula could do no right at the outset of her first Grand Slam semifinal. Her opponent at the U.S. Open on Thursday night, Karolina Muchova, could do no wrong.
“I came out flat, but she was playing unbelievable. She made me look like a beginner,” Pegula said. “I was about to burst into tears, because it was embarrassing. She was destroying me.”
Pegula managed to shrug off that sluggish start and come back from a set and a break down to defeat Muchova 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 for a berth in the final at Flushing Meadows. The No. 6-seeded Pegula, a 30-year-old from New York, has won 15 of her past 16 matches and will meet No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka for the title on Saturday.
Sabalenka, last year’s runner-up to Coco Gauff at the U.S. Open, returned to the championship match by holding off No. 13 Emma Navarro of the United States 6-3, 7-6 (2).
This final will be a rematch of the one last month at the hard-court Cincinnati…