WHAT HAPPENED: On paper, a match between the tournament’s sixth-highest ranked Czech player (at No. 52 in the world) and a No. 88-ranked wild card doesn’t sound like it would draw much of a crowd.
But the wild card is former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka, who is finding her footing after having a baby. The talented Czech is Karolina Muchova, just six tournaments into a comeback after wrist surgery. And the Round 2 match, played at night in Arthur Ashe Stadium, did indeed draw a crowd.
It was the powerful, and more consistent, Muchova who took it, 6-3, 7-6(5).
To put this encounter in perspective, let’s rewind 12 months to the 2023 US Open women’s singles final.
“I was in the audience, and I didn’t know if I was going to be able to play again at this level,” said Osaka, then a new mom, about watching Coco Gauff grab her first Grand Slam title. Osaka knew that feeling well: she’s won the US Open singles championship twice (in 2018 and 2020), as well two Australian Open titles (2019 and 2021).
Muchova took home very different memories from last year’s US Open: She was the semifinalist who lost to Gauff. And while that result helped boost her to a career-high ranking of No. 8, she also sustained the wrist injury that kept her on the sidelines until May of this year.
Let’s just say their paths back to second-round action in Arthur Ashe have been very different—and that emotions were running high.
Osaka, who is 26 years old and plays for Japan, opened the match with her characteristic form: calm, quiet, powerful. She held serve easily. Muchova charged to the net behind her very first serve, a signal that she planned to attack. She, too, held. Osaka’s first break opportunity came in the third game with her opponent serving at 1-2. Osaka didn’t manage to convert, but no matter: She won her next service game at love.
Midway through the first set, with Osaka serving at 3-3, Muchova executed another successful charge to the net, then, on the next point, pulled off a surprise drop shot. That was enough to achieve the first break of serve. Pressing that advantage, and with the serve on her racket, Muchova charged to the net again, made quick work of the game, and suddenly was ahead, 5-3. After Osaka dropped serve for the second time, Muchova took the set, 6-3.
The Czech champ, age 28, is the kind of mature player who knows not to tinker with what’s working. Early in the second set, she’d won seven of 10 of her net points, hit 15 winners and threw down six aces. Tied at 3-3, Osaka’s stats were solid but less stellar, with just three net points won (of six), nine winners and four aces.
Then, tied at 4-4, the Japanese player appeared to switch up her style of play, going for bigger, bolder shots. Muchova, who was serving, fluffed two consecutive volleys, giving her opponent two break points. Osaka grabbed the second one and—to the roar of a highly partisan crowd—found herself serving at 5-4. Up 40-0, it looked as if Osaka had the set well in hand. But, plot twist, she wobbled—and Muchova didn’t.
Serving again at 5-6, Osaka, looking cool and composed, won the game. So a tiebreak would decide the set and Muchova started it off with a serve and volley. Osaka hit some huge forehands to go up 4-2, but then threw in a double fault. At 6-4, Muchova hit an incredible passing shot to earn her first match point. Osaka survived but succumbed on the very next point. Muchova took the set, and the match, when the former No. 1 hit a forehand swinging volley well wide.
"I was just really trying to be focused. I know she's amazing player and that I have to bring the A-game to have a chance. So I was just trying to be really focused on myself," Muchova said post-match.
"I knew I have to serve good because her serve is really good. So I was just trying to be kind of locked in myself and focused out there. Yeah, then the energy and the big court and all that, it for sure helps me. I like that."
"I had the surgery, and I didn't know if I will play or not," she continued. "I'm just really grateful honestly that I'm here, that I can play, that I'm pain-free, and that I have a chance to play these matches."
WHAT IT MEANS: This year’s main draw started with seven Czech singles players—and now Muchova is the last one standing. Her next opponent is Anastasia Potapova, No. 38, who defeated 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez, as well as American Varvara Lepchenko, ranked No. 199. The competition looks tougher after that: No. 5 seed Jasmine Paolini looms as a potential quarterfinal test.
MATCH POINT: Half in jest, Osaka noted that part of her motivation for winning her Round 1 match was so that she could reveal the evening version of her custom-made daytime outfit. And the crowd appeared to love it. The stylish star warmed up in a shiny black jacket adorned with an oversized white bow. She removed it at the start of play, revealing a full-skirted black dress with tiered ruffles and, yes, a big white bow.
