Karolína Muchová Reaches Round of 16 at French Open for the First Time in Career

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.

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.

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. 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 Dutchwoman Nicole Muns-Jagermanová was in 1988. The young Russian ranks 134th on the rankings.

French Open tennis tournament in Paris (clay, €49.6 million subsidy):

Singles – 3rd round:

Muchova (CZ) – Beguová (27-Romania) 6:3, 6:2.