Top seeds to face talent and grit in French Open semifinals

Muchova on a mission 👊#RolandGarros | @karomuchova7 pic.twitter.com/5XdKJA3djg

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 2, 2023

Karolina Muchova is ranked number 43 in the world, but when you watch her play, you're likely to wonder why that ranking isn't higher. Her game--a beautiful combination of aggression, variety and fluidity--is hard to ignore. But the Czech player hasn't been able to use it to advance to the point where her potential appears to lie, primarily because her career has been plagued by her many injuries, and last year's injury layoff didn't help at all. But in Paris, Muchova's place in the draw is finally matching her considerable set of skills. 

Muchova started her French Open campaign in a big way, upsetting 8th seed Maria Sakkari. She then went on to upset Irina Camelia Begu and to defeat the impressive young Elina Avanesya. In the quarterfinals, Muchova defeated 2021 finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, putting her into the semifinals of a major for the second time--she reached the Australian Open semifinals in 2021.

Her opponent in the semis will be 2nd seed Aryna Sabalenka, who ended Elina Svitolina's exciting run in the quarterfinals. Sabalenka's mental strength has improved signficantly. She can still go "off," but she can also bring herself back quickly. 

Today, world number 1 Iga Swiatek again defeated Coco Gauff, her opponent from last year's final. Gauff is now 0-7 against Swiatek.

Next for Swiatek is Beatriz Haddad Maia, the first Brazilian woman to reach the semifinals of the French Open in the Open Era, and the first woman to do so since Maria Bueno did it in 1968. During the past few years, I've expected Haddad Maia to go far in Paris, but until now, that feat eluded her; like Muchova, she has had many injuries and a few surgeries. But I'm not surprised to see her finally do it.

An examination of Haddad Maia's draw reveals that she has spent just 13 minutes short of 13 hours on the court in Paris, and all but one (first round) of her matches has gone three sets. Haddad Maia (perhaps we can start calling her "Bia the Beast"?) has considerable physical and mental resources to spare, and thrives on fighting extended battles. Today, she upset 7th seed Ons Jabeur after dropping the first set. She got some help from Jabeur in the final set; the Tunisian star looked flummoxed and dejected, a demeanor we haven't seen from her in a while.

We have finalists in mixed doubles: Miyu Kato and Tim Puetz will face off against Bianca Andreescu and Michael Venus for the trophy. Both teams are unseeded. The top seeds, Jessica Pegula and Austin Krajicek, were upset in the first round.