Muchova Becomes Lowest Ranked Tennis Player To Reach French Open Final

Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic beat second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in a thrilling match to advance to the French Open women’s final.

Muchova ranked 43rd in the world, defeated Sabalenka 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 by saving a match point at 5-2 and ended up as the lowest-ranked woman player to ever reach the French Open final.

Muchova reached the 2021 Australian Open quarterfinals before encountering physical challenges. But at Roland Garros, she proved her undeniable worth in the game.

Sabalenka’s mistakes allowed Muchova to restore parity, forcing more nerves to creep in for Sabalenka when she served for a 6-5 lead.

From a commanding position of 40-15, the Belarusian produced back-to-back double faults, hit a heavy backhand long, and then made another error to hand the momentum to Muchova.

Muchova, with the crowd now behind her, retained her composure and served out to love before taking the warm acclaim of the Chatrier crowd.

She challenged Sabalenka throughout the match with her typical range of play, and she also showed tenacity by persevering when it appeared that she could lose.

She saved four break points in the critical game against Sabalenka to tie the match at one, but she then lost her serve and fell behind 4-2.

Sabalenka went ahead 5-2 knowing that two holds of serve would be enough to advance, but she was unable to claim the victory after Muchova saved a match point.

Before serving the final point of the set, Sabalenka tensed up, revealing an old weakness just when she was aiming to advance to back-to-back Grand Slam finals.

The 26-year-old Muchova will compete against either the top-seeded Polish player Iga Swiatek or the Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia in the French Open women’s final on Saturday.

Thursday’s second semifinal pits the current champion Swiatek against Haddad Maia.

If Swiatek, 22, defeats Haddad Maia and makes it to the final, she will remain the number one ranked woman tennis player in the world, a position she has been occupying for 62 weeks straight.