Pegula comes back from 1-6 down, reach US Open final

Jessica Pegula advanced to her first Grand Slam final after mounting a rousing comeback to defeat Karolina Muchova 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the US Open semifinals on Thursday.

The 30-year-old Buffalo native trailed 6-1, 2-0 before storming back to notch her 15th win in her last 16 matches.

“It’s a childhood dream,” Pegula said. “It’s what I wanted when I was a kid. It’s a lot of work, a lot of hard work put in. You couldn’t even imagine how much goes into it.

“So to be able to overcome all those challenges and say that I get a chance at the title Saturday is what we play for as players, let alone being able to do that in my home country here, in my home Slam. It’s perfect, really.”

Pegula is the oldest American woman in the Open Era to make a maiden Grand Slam final. She is the third American woman aged 30 or over to make a US Open final, joining Serena Williams and Martina Navratilova.

Pegula is the fourth player in the Open Era to reach the finals in Canada, Cincinnati, and US Open in a season, joining Rosie Casals (1970), Evonne Goolagong Cawley (1973) and Serena Williams (2013). This is the first time an American man and woman have reached the singles finals at a Grand Slam since 2002.

Pegula will face World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka for the US Open title on Saturday. The match is a rematch of last month’s Cincinnati Open final, which Sabalenka won 6-3, 7-5.