World No 2 Aryna Sabalenka suffers shock semi-final defeat after late meltdown against Karolina Muchova at the French Open… as Czech books final showdown against defending champion Iga Swiatek
- Karolina Muchova made a stunning comeback in third set to reach final
- Aryna Sabalenka had a match point when leading 5-2 in a deciding set
- World No 2 then lost 20 of the last 24 points to go down 7-6, 6-7, 7-5
Aryna Sabalenka ended a turbulent French Open campaign by suffering a late meltdown which allowed unheralded Czech Karolina Muchova to power through to the final.
The world No 2 from Belarus had a match point when leading 5-2 in a deciding set, but then lost 20 of the last 24 points to go down 7-6, 6-7, 7-5.
It ended any hopes of seeing the two highest ranked players facing off in Saturday’s final.
Muchova will now face defending champion Iga Swiatek, who needed to battle hard before beating Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-4, 7-6.
Sabalenka has had unwanted attention this fortnight over her links to Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko, seeing her miss two of her required press conferences.
Karolina Muchova made a stunning comeback in third set to reach French Open final
Aryna Sabalenka had a match point when leading 5-2 in a deciding set on Thursday
She declined to comment on anything political afterwards.
‘It’s been great couple of weeks with some challenges, emotional challenges, but I think I get through it,’ said Sabalenka, who also confirmed she has her visa to play Wimbledon.
She still reached a high level in the semi-final, but her problem was the calibre of 26 year-old Muchova, another Grand Slam finalist off the impressive Czech production line.
The daughter of a former footballer who is now assistant manager of first division FC Slovacko, she has long been recognised as a quality player, but injuries have held her back and she is ranked a relatively modest 43 .
She looked down and out at 2-5 30-40, finally overwhelmed by the brutal power of her opponent. Having survived to 3-5, Sabalenka played a very poor game and then unravelled from there.
Meanwhile, Miyu Kato, the Japanese player who was harshly defaulted from the women’s doubles after accidentally hitting a ballgirl, won the mixed doubles title alongside Germany’s Tim Puetz, beating Bianca Andreescu and Michael Venus 4-6, 6-4, 10-6.
