Semifinals: Karolina Muchova vs. Jessica Pegula
Arthur Ashe Stadium — Night Session — Second Match
- Thursday's night session closes out with the second women's semifinal, and sees No. 6-seeded American Jessica Pegula bid for a spot in her first Grand Slam singles final against the resurgent Karolina Muchova, who is in the US Open semifinals for the second year in a row.
- The seventh time proved the charm for Pegula in the quarterfinals, as she finally scored a win in a round that had been a thorn in her side in the past, and in grand fashion. Winless in her six previous major quarterfinals, Pegula upset No. 1 seed and 2022 US Open champion Iga Swiatek 6-2, 6-4 to finally reach the last four. Pegula's emphatic dismissal of the world No. 1 continued a theme for her in the tournament: In five matches, she hasn't lost a set, and and in only one of those 10 sets has lost more than four games.
- Muchova, meanwhile, also hasn't dropped a set, and her impressive run has included wins over two-time US Open champion Naomi Osaka, No. 5 seed and 2024 Roland Garros and Wimbledon finalist Jasmine Paolini, and No. 22 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia. Ranked in the Top 10 at this time last year, the Czech's repeat run to the final four comes with her ranked No. 52. She didn't play at all after the US Open last year, revealing to reporters this week that she injured her wrist during last year's quarterfinal; the injury eventually required surgery in the winter of this year, and Muchova returned to competition in June.
- The last time more than one woman had yet to lose a set en route to the semifinals of the same US Open was 10 years ago, when three of the final four did it. (Serena Williams, Peng Shuai and Ekaterina Makarova)
- Pegula also missed time due to injury this year, with a rib problem forcing her to miss the entire clay-court season, including Roland Garros. Admitting after her quarterfinal win over Swiatek that she was "burnt out" to start the season, the break came at a great time for the 30-year-old Buffalo native. "Getting injured then kind of just made me more hungry," she said. "I was like, OK, this sucks, like, I want to be playing, like I'm ready. To be kind of set back like that I think helped me come back, you know, to Berlin [a grass-court event that she won in June] super fresh and wanting to win these matches, and kind of fired up."
- Despite their familiarity with the business end of tournaments, Pegula and Muchova have played just once, and it was only weeks ago. Pegula rallied from a set behind to defeat Muchova 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 in the first round of the Cincinnati Open, part of a winning streak of nine straight hard-court matches. After winning the WTA 1000 title in Canada for the second year in a row, Pegula eventually made the final in the Queen City before losing to Aryna Sabalenka.
- Entering the US Open, Muchova had played just 10 matches in her comeback in 2024. Five of them came at the post-Wimbledon clay-court event in Palermo, Italy, where she reached the final before losing in three sets to eventual Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen.
- Muchova is the fourth unseeded Grand Slam semifinalist this season after Dayana Yastremska (Australian Open), Mirra Andreeva (Roland Garros) and Donna Vekic (Wimbledon). This is the fourth time in the Open Era where at least one unseeded woman has reached the semifinals at all four Grand Slam events in one year after 1971, 2016 and 2017.
