Home fans roared with excitement at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Thursday as Jessica Pegula staged a remarkable comeback, defeating Karolina Muchova 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 to secure her spot in her first Grand Slam final against Aryna Sabalenka.
The chance for an all-American final had already been dashed when Belarusian Sabalenka defeated Emma Navarro 6-3, 7-6(2). For a time, it seemed the host nation might be left out of the title match.
In her first major semifinal, Pegula was overwhelmed by Muchova in the opening set but managed to turn the match around against the unseeded Czech.
"It comes down to really small moments that flip momentum," Pegula said.
"She made me look like a beginner... I was about to burst into tears because it was embarrassing.
"I started to play how I wanted to play... It took a while, but I don't know how I turned that around, honestly."
Pegula managed only three winners in the first set as Muchova showed no signs of rust despite her recent return from a wrist injury that had sidelined her for about 10 months.
With the famously raucous main showcourt deathly quiet, Muchova looked poised to dominate after going 2-0 up in the second set.
However, Pegula gradually found the form that had seen her win 14 of her previous 15 matches, breaking her opponent in the fourth and sixth games.
Muchova broke back in the seventh game, but mistakes mounted, and she showed her nerves by double-faulting on set point, giving Pegula an opportunity she seized.
Encouraged by the crowd, Pegula stormed through the first three games of a nearly flawless final set, raising her hands in delight after breaking Muchova on her second match point with a fine forehand return.
Earlier, Sabalenka, the runner-up to American Coco Gauff last year, relied on her superior power to defeat Navarro, sending over 34 winners and closing out the match with a satisfying overhead smash on match point.
Navarro had taken out Gauff in the fourth round but was no match for the two-time Australian Open champion, even with a passionate home crowd urging her on.
Sabalenka, who humorously offered the crowd a free round of drinks if they supported her over the home hope, teased the fans after the win.
"Now you're cheering for me – wow – it’s a bit late," she said.
"Even though you guys were supporting her, I had goosebumps. She's such a great player, really tough opponent."
Sabalenka wrests momentum
The pair traded breaks early in the first set, but Sabalenka soon settled in and gained momentum in the sixth game, earning the break with a forehand winner before extinguishing Navarro’s break-point chance in the seventh with an unreturnable serve.
Navarro bloodied her knee midway through the second set while chasing a shot, and Sabalenka looked set to cruise to victory when an error by the American helped her secure a break in the fifth game.
The 13th seed refused to go down without a fight, applying pressure from the baseline to break back in the 10th game and send the set to a tiebreak.
Sabalenka, once famously prone to meltdowns, gave a sarcastic thumbs-up to her team after going 2-0 down in the tiebreak with a double fault but soon refocused, winning an 18-shot rally at the net en route to victory.
"I'm really happy to see that in those key moments I'm able to stay focused and just try to do my best and focus on my tennis," Sabalenka said.
"Even if things are not working well for me, I still keep doing the right things and staying in control."
Navarro's loss was a second disappointment for the home fans on Thursday after Italians Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori ended the all-American pair Taylor Townsend and Donald Young's storybook run in the mixed doubles final 7-6(0), 7-5.