Karolina Muchova stunned top-ranked Ashleigh Barty to reach the Australian Open semifinals where she’ll face Jennifer Brady who won an all-American encounter with Jessica Pegula.
The world No.27 Muchova quickly lost the first set to home favorite Barty and faced a 0-2 deficit in the second. A medical timeout helped Muchova find focus while Barty struggled to regain rhythm and the Czech advanced to her first Grand Slam semifinal with a 1-6 6-3 6-2 victory.
Besides this amazing comeback against Barty, Muchova had recovered from 0-5 down in the second set to defeat Karolina Pliskova 7-5 7-5 in the third round and from 0-4 down in the first set to upset Elise Mertens 7-6 7-5 in the fourth round.
As the WTA Insider reports, the 24-year-old Muchova visualized this moment as a child:
When I was a kid and got my first notebook, I put as a wallpaper Rod Laver, the stadium. I was just, like, I hope one day it would be nice to play there or to look at the arena or whatever. Now, yeah, I just won a match and make it to semifinals. It’s amazing.
Seed No.22 Brady wrapped up quarterfinal action with a 4-6 6-2 6-1 win over her good friend Pegula. Brady took absolute control after losing the tight first set and won nine of the final ten games to advance to her second straight Grand Slam semifinal, following the 2020 US Open. Besides Brady, Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka are also through to the semifinals in their next hardcourt major.
