Karolína Muchová will play in the round of 16 of the French Open for the first time in her career. In the third round of the Paris Grand Slam, the Czech tennis player clearly defeated the seeded Romanian Irina-Camelia Beguova 6:3, 6:2. In the top sixteen, she will face the surprise of the tournament, 20-year-old Russian Elina Avanesyanova.
The 26-year-old native of Olomouc defeated an experienced opponent for the first time, having lost the previous two duels with her, both on clay. It was not enough for Begu in 2019 at Roland Garros and also recently in Madrid.
But this time she didn’t give the annoying Romanian a chance, she allowed her to win only five games and celebrated in one hour and 34 minutes. Muchová reached the round of 16 of the tournament on the third attempt, last year she withdrew from the third round match due to an ankle injury.
“I’m really excited. I didn’t want to lose against Irina for the third time in a row. I expected a tough match, I knew I couldn’t slow down and I had to be more aggressive than in previous matches,” Muchová said at the press conference.
“I tried to dictate the game, not give it much time and avoid longer exchanges, which worked. I’m very happy that I won in two sets. I think I played really great tennis today,” she added.
Semi-finalist of last year’s Australian Open, Muchová had a more active impression on Simonne Mathieu’s court from the start and did not allow her opponent a single break point in the first set. On the other hand, she had five of them, and she used the last one in the eighth game. She finished the opening set in front of her parents with a clean play.
“I knew what to expect from her. I didn’t expect her to change her tactics when she beat me twice with the same style. I was more careful that she would want to hold me in longer exchanges through the backhand. I wanted to go into it more.” depicted Muchová.
“I think the beginning was slower, but then I kind of loosened up. I started going more, using drop shots more, going to the net and it worked,” she said.
Also in the second set, Muchová continued to play aggressively. She didn’t use three break points in the first game, but after that she took all three serves from Begu and converted the second match point on her own serve. The Czech outplayed her opponent in the ratio of winning balls 25:9.
Muchová remains at the tournament as the last of the 14 Czech singles participants. “It would definitely be more pleasant if there were more of us Czechs in the tournament. We support each other. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for the others. I’m happy that I’m doing well,” said Muchová.
He will face the twenty-year-old Avanesjanová for the first time. The Russian is the first tennis player in 35 years to play in the top 16 at Roland Garros after failing to qualify for the main event as a “lucky loser”. The last time a similar feat was accomplished by the Dutchwoman Nicole Muns-Jagerman in 1988.
“I don’t know her at all. I’ll have to see how she plays. She’s on a good streak. She beat Belinda (Bencic) and now Tauson, so we’ll definitely sit down with the team and we’ll have to prepare for her,” Muchová added.
French Open tennis tournament in Paris (clay, €49.6 million subsidy):
Singles – 3rd round:
Muchova (CZ) – Beguová (27-Romania) 6:3, 6:2.
2023-06-02 21:19:34
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