French Open: Muchova stuns reigning Australian Open champ Sabalenka to reach maiden career Grand Slam final

World no. 42 Karolina Muchova sealed a thrilling 7(7)-6(5) 6(5)-7(7) 7-5 victory against Aryna Sabalenka in the women’s singles semi-finals of the ongoing French Open, at the Philippe-Chatrier Court in Paris. In what turned out to be a roller coaster first set, Muchova edged to a 7(7)-6(5) win in the first set.

Then world no. 2 Sabalenka had other plans and staged a comeback, but then Muchova held her nerves and took a 5-4 lead, with the world no. 2 serving to stay in the match. Sabakalenka soon made it 5-5 with some aces and showed her champion mentality. With the set at 6-6, it went into a tie-breaker, which Sabalenka eked out a 6(5)-7(7) win in the second set.

The third and final set turned out to be a topsy-turvy one initially, but Sabalenka used her experience to take a 2-5 lead and Muchova had to serve. A stinging return from Sabalenka gave her a 40-30 lead and the match point, but Muchova drew level once again to make it 40-40.

Keeping her calm, Muchova made it 3-5. Serving for the match, Sabalenka conceded early. Then it was all Muchova as she staged a comeback to make it 4-5. Then Muchova took a 6-5 lead to serve for the match. Sabalenka failed to get a single point as Muchova went ton win 7-5.

More to follow…