It's not often that two players with Grand Slam-winning pedigrees face uncharted territory during a night match inside Arthur Ashe Stadium—but when Barbora Krejcikova and Garbine Muguruza walk into Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sunday night, they'll both be bidding for a first US Open quarterfinal.
For Muguruza, a place in the last eight in New York would fill a notable gap in her decorated career résumé: a champion at the French Open and Wimbledon, and a finalist at the Australian Open, the No. 9 seed and world No. 10 had reached the fourth round just once previously (2017) in eight career appearances at the US Open.
"The past years I was very—in Spanish, we say you're a little bit cross, your brain is a little bit not working very well. I felt negativity was more than positivity in the previous years," Muguruza said after beating another former major-winner, Victoria Azarenka, in Round 3.
"This year, I don't know, I just prepared well and say, 'Hey, at some point it's going to change, this might be the year.'"
In the context of the US Open, it's also easy to see just how much has changed for Krejcikova in the last 12 months: last summer, she wasn't even in New York for this tournament.
With 2020 US Open qualifying canceled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Czech, ranked outside the Top 100 in singles at the time despite being a former doubles world No. 1 and major-winner, stayed home in Europe and played $25,000-purse events on the ITF World Tennis Tour instead.
A fourth-round showing at last year's French Open as a qualifier, rescheduled to October in other pandemic consequences, kickstarted the form of the 25-year-old's life. That culminated in her return to Paris this spring, where she ran the table to not only a first major title in singles, but a third in doubles alongside Katerina Siniakova. Having lost in qualifying five times previously, Krejcikova, a protégée of the late Hall of Famer Jana Novotna, is making her US Open main-draw debut this year at a career-high ranking of world No. 9. With 81 wins combined this year in singles, doubles and mixed doubles, she's the WTA's overall leader in victories.
She's played like it, too: The No. 8 seed hasn't lost a set in her first three rounds, and after beating American Christina McHale inside Louis Armstrong Stadium in Round 2—they played four games under the roof on Wednesday after first being halted on Court 13 due to rain—the Czech expounded on her affinity for the big stage.
"I’m extremely happy that it started to rain and that I was able to come here and have such a wonderful crowd and play on such a big court because it’s something I always wanted to do,” Krejcikova said.
"I didn’t even expect it that I’m going to play this well on such a big court. I’m very pleased, and it’s a big privilege to be on this court and be able to play matches like this.”
Watch: Krejcikova vs. McHale, Round 2 Highlights
In each player's first night match of the tournament, there will be no unfamiliarity for the two in terms of their games: Krejcikova and Muguruza have already played twice this year on hard courts, splitting those meetings. In March, the Spaniard was victorious in two tight sets in the final in Dubai to win her first title in three years, while the Czech scored a three-set victory in the third round of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati during the US Open Series.
Another interesting wrinkle? In her last six events, Krejcikova has either won the title (Strasbourg, Paris, Prague) or been beaten by the eventual champion (Ashleigh Barty, Wimbledon & Cincinnati and Belinda Bencic, the Tokyo Olympics). Muguruza says she's up for the challenge—and who knows? If the Spaniard does advance to that long-sought US Open quarterfinal, she's certainly familiar with going all the way at a major.
"She's very talented. She's a great doubles player. She has a great touch, great hands. She brings a lot of variety into the game. It's just a lot of confidence, meaning that you can see in some shots the way she hits, just some game plan, it might be very aggressive and have success. Once you prove to yourself that you can do that, then you have a little different attitude," Muguruza assessed.
"It's quite shocking how much it happened for her in the last year... [she's] one of the hottest players right now, so good. That's the players I want to face."
