The final Grand Slam of the year is almost over, and we now have the semifinal matchups, featuring Aryna Sabalenka, Emma Navarro, Jessica Pegula, and Karolina Muchova.
The semifinals for the 2024 US Open women’s singles bracket are now set. In one half of the bracket, the second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka will take on American Emma Navarro, the No. 13 seed. In the other half, the unseeded Karolina Muchova is the only remaining unseeded player, and she’ll have her hands full trying to best Jessica Pegula, the sixth-seeded American.
Navarro and Sabalenka played on Tuesday, while the final semifinal match was determined on Wednesday evening, when Pegula faced Iga Swiatek, the top seed. Swiatek has been the most dominant player in the women’s game for the last couple years, but she had few answers for Pegula, who makes it into her first ever Grand Slam semifinal.
The first set was all Pegula, but Swiatek showed life in the second. After getting broken early by Pegula, Swiatek broke back to stay in it. A 15-point back-and-forth later in the set had Swiatek fighting to stay on track, but ultimately she was broken after a forehand unforced error. A visibly frustrated Swiatek didn’t have much to offer after that.
Muchova has had a wild run thus far. In addition to dropping the always-tough Naomi Osaka in the second round, she has notched back-to-back straight-set victories over seeded competition. That includes her Round of 16 opponent, the fifth-seeded Jasmine Paolini (6-3, 6-3), and her quarterfinal opponent, No. 22 Beatriz Haddad Maia (6-1, 6-4).
The 28-year-old Czech will be playing in her second US Open semifinal, having reached it last year as well. Her best showing at a Slam to date was an appearance in the French Open final in 2023. Her win over Maia on Wednesday was a quality showing, with Muchova winning 78 percent of her first serves, and managed four breaks to seal the victory.
Pegula has won her only match against Muchova, and on a hard court in the lead-up to this tournament in Cincinnati.
Sabalenka and Navarro have faced each other just twice before, splitting the matchups. Navarro has won their only outing on hard courts, while Sabalenka bested her on clay at the French Open earlier this year. As far as success on the court goes, the 26-year-old Sabalenka has more accolades to her name. She’s got two major Grand Slam wins, both at the Australian Open, and got one of those wins at the beginning of this season.
Then there’s Navarro, who currently enjoys a career-best No. 12 ranking in singles play. The 23-year-old will be playing in her first ever Slam semifinal, her previous best being a quarterfinal appearance at Wimbledon. In fact, she has reached her best finish in all four Slams this year, making it to the third round in Australia, and the fourth round in France as well.
Sabalenka’s best wins thus far have come in her last two meetings, both straight-set victories over seeded opponents in No. 33 Elise Mertens (6-2, 6-4), and No. 7 Qinwen Zheng, 6-1, 6-2. Zheng was coming off an Olympic gold medal victory, but Sabalenka had little trouble dispatching her. Navarro’s biggest win on her way to the semifinal came in the Round of 16 against the third-seeded American, Coco Gauff. Navarro needed three sets, but ultimately came out on top, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
Swiatek has had a fantastic few years of tennis results, though she’d like to scrub some of her more inconsistent outings. While she has four victories at the French Open, and picked up a win at the US Open in 2022, she didn’t manage career-bests at the Australian Open or Wimbledon this season (her best finishes still being the semifinals at the former and the quarterfinals of the latter).
Most recently, she earned the bronze medal at the Olympics, which is obviously an achievement but a lesser one to what was expected of her: gold. She fell to the eventual gold medalist, Zheng Qinwen, in straight sets, before beating Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the bronze medal match. This finish at the US Open is a disappointment for her, though it’s more of a setback than anything else for the 23-year-old.
The women’s semifinals are set for Thursday, Sept. 5. Play will be on the main courts of Arthur Ashe Stadium, beginning with the first of two matchups at 7 p.m. ET. ESPN and ESPN Plus have television and streaming rights for the tournament, and both semifinals will be featured on the former. Below, you can find the schedule for the women’s semifinals and below that, a look at each competitor’s path through the tournament to the penultimate round.
No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka vs. No. 13 Emma Navarro
Karolina Muchova vs. No. 6 Jessica Pegula
def. Priscilla Hon, 6-3, 6-3
def. Lucia Bronzetti, 6-3, 6-1
def. No. 29 Ekaterina Alexandrova 2-6, 1-6, 6-2
def. No. 33 Elise Mertens, 6-2, 6-4
def. No. 7 Qinwen Zheng, 6-1, 6-2
def. Anna Blinkova, 6-1, 6-1
def. Arantxa Rus, 6-1, 6-1
def. No. 19 Marta Kostyuk, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
def. No. 3 Coco Gauff, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
def. No. 26 Paula Badosa, 6-2, 7-5
def. Katie Volynets, 6-3, 7-5
def. Naomi Osaka, 6-3, 7-6(5)
def. Anastasia Potapova, 6-4, 6-2
def. No. 5 Jasmine Paolini, 6-3, 6-3
def. No. 22 Beatriz Haddad Maia, 6-1, 6-4
def. Shelby Rogers 6-4, 6-3
def. Sofia Kenin, 7-6(4), 6-3
def. Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, 6-3, 6-3
def. Diana Shnaider, 6-4, 6-2
def. No. 1 Iga Swiatek, 6-2, 6-4
