NEW YORK — World No.6 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.

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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. 

After an injury-addled start to her season, which forced her out of four WTA 1000 tournaments and the French Open, Pegula went into the summer hard court season ranked No.20 on the PIF Race to the WTA Finals and can leave New York as high as No.3 on the Leaderboard. She has surged through the hard-court summer, capturing her third WTA 1000 title in Toronto, finishing runner-up in Cincinnati, and booking a place in the US Open final. 

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. 

Tale of the tape: Pegula came into her first major semifinal after toppling World No.1 Iga Swiatek to snap her 0-6 drought in Grand Slam quarterfinals. The 30-year-old American was, arguably, the hottest player of the summer after winning 14 of her last 15 matches to win the title in Toronto and final in Cincinnati. 

Pegula looked primed to build on that success early in the match. She faced Muchova for the first time just three weeks ago in Cincinnati, where Pegula won in three sets. 

Muchova quick out of the blocks: After exchanging holds to open the match, Pegula earned three break points as Muchova served at 1-1. Muchova dug in to save all three chances and from there, the Czech turned the tide. After holding to 2-1, Muchova won eight consecutive points to break and extend her lead to 4-1. She unleashed her attacking all-court game to keep Pegula off-balance and demoralized the World No.6 with spectacular shot-making to race away with the set after just 28 minutes.

Muchova extended her lead to 2-0 in the second set, before Pegula stormed back. She saved break point to hold to 2-1 and then broke Muchova for the first time with a dipping return that the charging Czech could not save.

As Pegula dug in at the baseline to lengthen the rallies, her fortunes began to change. She fended off another break point, this time with a well-constructed nine-shot baseline rally, to hold to 3-2. Pegula continued her march to break Muchova in a 10-minute game after Muchova capitulated with back-to-back backhand errors.

Turning point: Muchova stopped Pegula’s run of four games with a quick break of serve and then dug out of a 0-30 deficit to hold to 4-4. But instead of being deflated, Pegula held quickly at love and then broke Muchova to force a deciding set. Muchova struck her third double fault of the match on set point to end the physical 55-minute set and send the partisan crowd into a roar. 

Pegula rode her momentum straight through the finish. She broke Muchova for a 2-0 lead and fought off one break point with a forehand winner to extend her lead to 3-0. Again Muchova kept the pressure on, earning break point from a 40-0 deficit at 3-1. But the tired Czech sprayed an inside-out forehand wide and Pegula held for a 4-1 lead. 

Muchova would make one final stand. With Pegula serving at 4-2, the Czech once again battled back from 40-0 down to earn a break point. She saved five game points before an ill-conceived drop shot from the American landed in the net. But Muchova netted a regulation backhand and flung her racquet in the air in frustration. Pegula held and broke one final time to seal the resilient win after 2 hours and 12 minutes.

Next up: Pegula defeated World No.1 Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals and will now face No.2 Sabalenka in a second consecutive final. Sabalenka leads the head-to-head 5-2.