Unseeded Karolina Muchova stuns Aryna Sabalenka to reach first French Open final

<p>Karolina Muchova saved a match point to stun Aryna Sabalenka and reach her first grand slam final at the French Open.</p>

<p>The unseeded Czech fought back from 5-2 down in the deciding set to claim a 7-6 (5) 6-7 (5) 7-5 victory in a tremendous contest lasting three hours and 13 minutes.</p>

<p>Sabalenka, who was bidding to win back-to-back slam titles after lifting the Australian Open trophy, appeared to have turned things in her favour but tightened up in sight of the line and Muchova made her pay.</p>

<p>At 43 in the world, the 26-year-old is the fourth lowest-ranked woman to reach the final here, while it is the fifth year in a row that the final will feature an unseeded player.</p>

<p>A delighted Muchova said: "I don't really know what happened. The atmosphere, it's unbelievable. I just tried to keep fighting and it worked. I'm so happy."</p>

<p>The Czech was playing in her second slam semi-final having also reached the last four at the Australian Open in 2021, but injuries severely restricted her last year, with her ranking dropping outside the top 200.</p>

<p>Muchova has been climbing rapidly this year, though, and can break into the top 10 by lifting the trophy.</p>

<p>Sabalenka, who has found attention more on her off-court views than her tennis this fortnight, made the faster start but Muchova grew steadily into the match and made the first big move, breaking for 5-4.</p>

<p>Back came Sabalenka immediately, though, a forehand winner saving a set point and then more crunching groundstrokes earning her the break.</p>

<p>It was a compelling contest between the raw power and aggression of Sabalenka and the more subtle skills of Muchova, who gave a masterful display of using angles and changes of direction as well as being very willing to come to the net.</p>

<p>She is not averse to a winner, too, and produced one from the top drawer on her second set point at 6-5 in the tie-break, drilling a backhand down the line.</p>

<p>Muchova then exploited her opponent's disappointment to break at the start of the second, and the old Sabalenka might have fallen away quickly in a barrage of errors.</p>

<p>But the Belarusian has beaten her biggest rivals this season with an unshakeable commitment to attacking tennis and she regrouped well.</p>

<p>From 0-2 she moved a break ahead at 4-3 only for Muchova to bounce back, but Sabalenka confidently served twice to stay in the match, setting up another tie-break.</p>

<p>Nerves were evident from both and Sabalenka double-faulted on her first set point but powered away an overhead on the second.</p>

<p>The second seed probed for an immediate break at the start of the decider and, although Muchova did superbly to withstand that, a break for 4-2 gave Sabalenka some daylight.</p>

<p>The match appeared over when she forced a first match point at 5-2 but Muchova saved it confidently, and Sabalenka then became edgy, throwing in her worst service game of the match.</p>

<p>At 5-5, Sabalenka, who overcame serving yips last year, sent down back-to-back double faults and Muchova seized her opportunity.</p>

<p>The article <a href="https://www.planetsport.com/tennis/news/karolina-muchova-stuns-aryna-sabalenka-to-reach-first-french-open-final">Unseeded Karolina Muchova stuns Aryna Sabalenka to reach first French Open final </a> appeared first on Planetsport.com.</p>