Aryna Sabalenka is into her maiden Roland Garros final after a 6-7(5) 7-6(5) 6-2 victory over Karolina Muchova.
Muchova is into her first Grand Slam final after a thrilling three hour and 13 minute contest.
Sabalenka had a 5-2 lead in the deciding set but couldn’t finish the match off with Muchova producing a strong finish to the contest.
Muchova awaits either defending champion Iga Swiatek or 14th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia in the final.
It was power against court craft as both players held onto their serves efficiently in the opening stages of the contest.
As expected it was Sabalenka who was the more relentless player on return as she produced some stunning forehand winners.
However Muchova more than held her own with some clutch serving and some unpredictable backhand slices.
The Czech Republican produced moments of quality on return, constructing points with slice and variety and finishing them with power and precision.
However Muchova lacked consistency as Sabalenka’s power and accuracy on serve prevailed on the majority of the time.
Eventually Muchova’s variety paid off as she took the first break of the match in the ninth game to take a 5-4 lead.
In a theme of the match, Sabalenka immediately responded with some consistent power of her own as she saved break point to level the set at 5-5.
The tension of the match rose with each point as both players were producing a high standard with the opening set going to a tiebreak.
Just like the rest of the set, there was very little to separate the two players with a stunning backhand down the line from Muchova at 6-5 giving her the opening set.
Momentum was with Muchova as she took advantage of the momentum gained as Sabalenka continued to produce unforced errors with the Australian Open champion resorting to slices of her own.
The early lapse of concentration saw Muchova cruise to a 2-0 lead but an immediate response from Sabalenka saw her power to the immediate break back.
Both players’ level was starting to dip in what was a fascinating and brutal contest.
Once again Sabalenka produced a mix of power and precision to seal the break at 4-3 before being broken in the next game by a string of aesthetically pleasing points from Muchova.
There was incredible nerve shown by both players as the second set would also be determined by a tiebreak.
This time it was Sabalenka who dictated the flow of the match in the second set tiebreak and despite double faulting at 6-4, the second seed held her nerve as a thunderous smash sealed the second set.
Sabalenka had the momentum heading into the third set as she continued to construct effective winners, creating four break points in the second game.
Ice in her veins, Muchova held to continue to force Sabalenka’s quality from the baseline, testing her to new limits.
Sabalenka’s consistent pressure paid off towards the end of the set as a crucial break and hold saw her take a 5-2 lead with Muchova seemingly being exhausted from the battle.
However Muchova came back with some innovative returning and stunning patterns of play.
After saving match point on her own serve, Muchova took advantage of Sabalenka’s rushed and erratic play as the world number 43 sealed five games in a row to seal a place in her first Grand Slam final.
After the match Muchova spoke about coming back from 5-2 down, “I don’t really know what happened,” Muchova was quoted by the BBC as saying.
“It’s unbelievable, I tried to keep fighting and it worked. I’m so happy. I’m trying to play my game, I’m glad it worked so well. Thanks to my team, we work on this together so it’s our success.”
Muchova will now face Iga Swiatek or Beatriz Haddad Maia in her first Grand Slam final.
