WHAT HAPPENED: Karolina Muchova had twice beaten Sorana Cirstea at the US Open: in the 2023 quarterfinals and in the third round in 2020. On Thursday, the outcome was the same, as Muchova advanced to Round 3, 7-6(0), 6-7(3), 6-4.
The 35-year-old Cirstea was competing in her 16th US Open–a year after missing last year’s edition due to foot surgery.
In the first set on Thursday, Cirstea took a 4-1 lead but Muchova won the next four games to earn a chance to serve for the set. Instead, Cirstea broke Muchova to create a 5-5 at the 50-minute mark. Six minutes later, the two found themselves in a tiebreak in which Muchova blanked Cirstea, 7-0.
In the second set, Cirstea nearly went up 4-1 again, but Muchova saved a break point in the fifth game to hold and trail 2-3. Two games later, Cirstea was leading 4-2 and was up 40-0 on Muchova’s serve but failed to convert triple break point so Muchova narrowed the gap, 4-3. In the tenth game, Muchova broke Cirstea to tie the set, 5-5 (again)–58 minutes after the first-set tie at 5-all. Both players were broken in their next service games to force another tiebreak which Cirstea won, 7-3.
In the third set, leading 3-1, Muchova earned seven break points in the fifth game but was unable to convert, adding tension to the match that was already 2-hours-and-35-minutes old and so close that only four points separated the players in total points won. Cirstea quickly broke Muchova in the next game to tie, 3-3. Muchova broke back to lead 4-3, held to make it 5-3, and had match point on Cirstea’s serve but Cirstea denied her with a backhand winner at the net. The Romanian won the next four points and the game to make Muchova serve for the match at 5-4. Muchova converted her second match point at 40-15 when Cirstea netted the return.
“It was crazy match from the start to the finish," Muchova said on court afterwards. “I don’t even know how I won, but I made it somehow. I tried to stay positive, but I was mostly negative today, I think. But at the end, I tried to put the ball in, play my game, play aggressive.
“Now, I’m gonna go to ice bath. I just need to sit for a little bit, take off my shoes, and think a bit about what just happened.”
WHAT IT MEANS: Muchova now extends her head-to-head record to 6-1 against Cirstea.
After beating 45-year-old Venus Williams in Round 1 and 35-year-old Cirstea in Round 2, Muchova will meet her youngest opponent yet in Round 3: 20-year-old Linda Noskova, a fellow Czech.
Meanwhile, Cirstea’s ouster leaves just one Romanian woman left in the singles draw: Jaqueline Cristian, who defeated Danielle Collins in Round 1. No Romanian woman has ever won a US Open singles title, but two have been semifinalists: Irina Spirlea in 1997 and Simona Halep in 2015.
MATCH POINT: Muchova’s quest to reach her third US Open semifinals continues. In her previous US Open semifinals, Muchova lost to the eventual champion Coco Gauff in 2023, and to Jessica Pegula in 2024.
