In a tournament filled with upsets, it was Karolina Muchova who got the ball rolling at the French Open by knocking off No. 8 seed Maria Sakkari in Court Suzanne Lenglen’s second match on Day 1 of the tournament. And she hasn’t looked back since.
Roland Garros Run
Muchova’s 7-6(5), 7-5 first round upset of Sakkari, which closely mirrored her second round 7-6(5), 7-6(4) vanquishing of the same opponent a year ago, has sparked a run that now sees the unseeded Czech poised for a Thursday semifinal showdown with No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka.
Healthy and motivated after an injury-plagued 2022 season that saw her fall out of the top-150 earlier this year, Muchova has put together an eye-catching two weeks that should bring her considerably closer to the career-best No. 19 ranking she held back in 2021. After topplng Sakkari, he 26-year-old has continued her romp through Paris by defeating Nadia Podoroska, No. 27 seed Irina-Camelia Begu, Elina Avanesyan and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Of those five opponents, only Podoroska has taken a set off of Muchova.
On the surface, Muchova’s march to the final four of Roland Garros may look like a fairy tale. After all, when Jelena Ostapenko won the 2017 French Open, she became the first unseeded female in nearly 90 years to do so. However, Muchova isn’t your typical unseeded player. A litany of injuries, including an ankle injury that cut short her run at last year’s French Open, held her to just 13 events in 2022, three of which ended in a withdrawal or retirement.
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Now healthy once again, Muchova is back to being an aggressive, scrappy player who rises to the occasion at the Grand Slams. Prior to surviving through to the final four at Roland Garros, she had previously enjoyed runs to the semifinals of the 2021 Australian Open (beating then-No. 1 and hometown favorite Ashleigh Barty along the way), two Wimbledon quarterfinals and to the 2021 US Open round of 16.
While besting Sabalenka, who still has yet to drop a set amidst a controversial run, represents a tall order, don’t expect Muchova to be intimidated by either her opponent or the moment at hand.
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
