It won’t be an All-American women’s final Saturday at the U.S. Open.
But Jessica Pegula is looking to make it an American day.
The Buffalo-born Pegula stormed back for a come-from-behind 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 semifinal rally against Karolina Muchova in the semifinals Thursday night.
She’d never been to a Slam quarterfinal before this week and was 0-6 in overall semis.
But thanks to her fight back, she’s 15-1 since the Olympics and will face No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, who ended Manhattan-born Emma Navarro’s dream run with a powerful 6-3, 7-6 (2) win hours earlier.
“It’s amazing. I’m just happy I was able to turn this match around and on such a big stage,” said Pegula, whose 3-6, 5-7 loss to Sabalenka in the Cincinnati final was the lone defeat since Paris. “She showed why she’ll probably be the favorite. It’ll be a rematch from Cincinnati. Hopefully, I can get some revenge.”
Pegula — whose parents, Terry and Kim, own the Buffalo Bills and Sabres — displayed plenty of mental toughness to dig out of an early hole.
She was down a set, 2-0 and a break point, before seizing momentum.
Muchova, who left the court twice in Wednesday’s quarterfinal with an upset stomach and was stretching out her back after the second set and breathing heavily down 4-2 in the third — needed to put this match away in the second.
She had a chance, and squandered it.
When Pegula hit a forehand slice return on 40-30 and Muchova blew an absurdly easy volley — sending it long against an empty court — Pegula grabbed the golden opportunity.
“I was thinking, ‘Alright, that was kinda lucky. You’re still in this.’ It comes down to small moments,” Pegula said on TV. “She made me look like a beginner. I was about to burst into tears. She was destroying me.
“In the end of the second set into the third, I started to find [my legs]. I don’t know how I turned that around, honestly.”
After having watched Muchova win eight of the nine games to that point, Pegula won nine of the next 11.
She found her footing, clinching the second set on Muchova’s double fault and then ran out to a 3-0 edge in the third.
She closed out the match to earn a final date with Sabalenka.
The latter will hope it goes better than a year ago when she got rattled in the final against Coco Gauff.
For the big Belarusian, it’s a shot at redemption for that collapse when she lost not just to Gauff but to the partisan crowd and to herself.
But she showed more mental toughness Thursday against Navarro.
“At the end of the second set, I got a little emotional and had this flashback on last year’s final. … I’m really glad that the lesson’s learned, and I was able to control my emotions,” Sabalenka said. “Last year, it was very tough experience, very tough lesson. [Thursday] in the match I was like ‘No, no, no, Aryna, it’s not going to happen again. You have to control your emotions. You have to focus on yourself.’ ”
Sabalenka hit 34 aces and limited Navarro to just 4 of 16 on her second serves.
For Navarro — born in Manhattan to billionaire Ben Navarro — it was a loss but it capped a breakout season.
She came into the year just 1-4 in majors but reached the third round in Australia, fourth round in the French and quarters in Wimbledon.
“It’s crazy to have come into this tournament two weeks ago, and I was joking with my team — but a little bit serious, as well — that I was looking to win one match at the U.S. Open,” said Navarro, 23. “Now having made a run and gotten to the semifinals, and now I’m a top-10 player, it’s pretty crazy, so special.
“Playing in front of the American fans, with the American flag next to my name, I have a lot of pride in where I come from…To come back [from the Olympics] and be able to play in the U.S., especially here in New York City, it’s pretty incredible. It’s definitely pushed me to look back at where I started out and where I’m at now, and I feel like it’s only gonna keep getting better. Yeah, really special playing here in New York.”
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