Hey there, fellow tennis enthusiasts It’s your girl Mia Johnson-Carter here, living the dream in Miami. I’m super excited to share some awesome news about the latest match at the China Open.
Karolina Muchova continues her success against Aryna Sabalenka as she defeated the top seed in the Beijing quarterfinal to clinch her third consecutive win over the Belarusian. This victory also marked the end of Sabalenka’s run of 15 consecutive wins.
The match was highly anticipated, given their previous encounter at the 2023 French Open semifinal. And boy, did they deliver In the first set, Muchova saved two set points in the 10th game on her serve before opening a 6-4 lead in the tie-break and converting her first set point to win a very tight opener.
Down by a set, Sabalenka finally started to play better and forced a decider with breaks in the fourth and seventh games. However, Muchova was not about to let up. In the third set, it looked like Sabalenka was on her way to completing a big comeback win. But then, she twice blew a break as Muchova went from 2-4 down to winning the decider 6-4.
Last year, Sabalenka was 5-2 up and had a match point in their French Open semifinal before losing the next five games. A few months later, she lost to Muchova from a set up in Cincinnati. This time around, Sabalenka again had the lead in the third set but just failed to capitalize on her chances. As a result, it will be Muchova who will be taking on Zheng Qinwen in the Beijing semifinal.
“Very tough match — basically what I expected. She’s (Aryna) one of the best players playing her best tennis these days. You really have to be ready to attack, because if you slice slow ball or something she’s really going to smash you,” Muchova said after the match.
In July, Muchova lost to Zheng Qinwen in the Palermo final but that match was played on clay. The upcoming match will be a different story, and we can’t wait to see how it unfolds!
If you want, you can check out the news where I found it here.
Yours truly,
Mia
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