WHAT HAPPENED: In the first US Open women's singles semifinal for both players, No. 6 seed Coco Gauff outlasted No. 10 seed Karolina Muchova, 6-4, 7-5, to reach her second Grand Slam singles final.
Nineteen minutes into the Thursday night match, the 19-year-old Gauff had already built a 4-1 lead over the 2023 Roland Garros finalist. Gauff broke Muchova in the next game to lead 5-1 and serve for the set. Gauff thrilled fans by winning the first point with a backhand winner down the line after a nine-shot multi-get rally, but lost the next four points and suddenly, it was 5-2 in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Muchova started placing the ball strategically with her powerful backhand, held serve and broke the American again to trail 4-5. Muchova served to tie the set, but lost four consecutive points, and Gauff was halfway to her first US Open final in 42 minutes.
In the second set, Gauff led 1-0 when play was stopped at around 8:05 p.m. local time because of unrest in the stands. Both players sat courtside while the crowd grew restless. Ten minutes later, both players left the court with their belongings.
When play resumed at 8:55 p.m., both players held serve for the next six games. Trailing 3-4, Muchova had her first double fault of the match to make it deuce. Gauff hit a winner to earn break point. The American converted it, and, once again, the teen had another 5-3 advantage and a chance to serve for the match.
In the next game, though—just two points away from a milestone victory—Gauff made her second double fault of the match at 30-0. She still had match point at 40-30, but Muchova managed to break Gauff back. In the 10th game, both players were coming into the net, making impossible gets, hitting volley winners, morphing lobs into winners, and the crowd was on its feet. Muchova tied it, 5-all.
Leading 6-5, Muchova saved four more match points before Gauff created her fifth one on a forehand winner after a 40-shot rally and won the semifinal when Muchova hit a backhand long.
“Some of those points were so loud. I don’t know if my ears are going to be okay,” Gauff joked to the supportive crowd. “I grew up watching this tournament… but the job isn’t done so hopefully you guys can back me on Saturday.”
As for her plans for the rest of the night, Gauff said, “Press, treatment, watch some anime—literally, today I watched four or five episodes of My Hero Academia. I may watch some of the [next semifinal] match, maybe not,” she said.
After the match, the USTA issued the following statement regarding the stadium protesters:
"Following the first game of the second set in the Gauff-Muchova match, play was halted due to a protest conducted by four spectators.
"Three of the four protesters were escorted out of the stadium without further incident. The fourth protester affixed their bare feet to the floor of the seating bowl. Due to the nature of this action, NYPD and medical personnel were needed in order to safely remove this individual from the stadium.
"The four protesters were taken into NYPD custody.
"In total, 49 minutes elapsed before play resumed."
WHAT IT MEANS: Gauff has now reached two singles finals in her Grand Slam career, at the Roland Garros in 2022 and now the 2023 US Open. Gauff’s semifinal win sets up what could be the first all-American women’s singles final at the US Open since 2017 when Sloane Stephens beat Madison Keys for the title. But first, Keys had to beat No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in the next match on Thursday night.
MATCH POINT: Muchova, at 27, was trying to become the first Czech woman to make the US Open final since Karolina Pliskova in 2016 and the first Czech woman to win the US Open since Hana Mandlikova in 1985. (The Czech-born Martina Navratilova represented the US in all her US Open finals.)
