Tennis player Karolina Muchová advanced to the quarterfinals of Roland Garros for the first time. The 26-year-old native of Olomouc defeated Russia’s Elina Avanesyanova 6:4 and 6:3 on the clay in Paris today. The last Czech singles participant will face another Russian and 2021 finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who turned around a duel with Belgium’s Elise Mertens and won 3:6, 7:6, 6:3.
“It was a tough match. I tried to play aggressive again and go for the shots,” Muchova said at the press conference. “I didn’t know my opponent very well, but I felt she was improving and returning more balls as the match went on. It seemed like once I gave her some space, she took advantage of it. She was chasing me from one corner to the other, so it was a tough match even with the heat. I’m glad I made it in two sets in the end,” she added.
Muchova, the world No. 33, set a personal best in France again. The 20-year-old Avanesian, who came through to the main event from the lucky draw position and knocked out world No. 12 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland in the first round, beat her in one hour and 39 minutes. She played 31 winning balls, her opponent played 16.
The tennis player of the 1st ČLTK Praha is in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the fourth time in her career, she was among the top four two years ago at the Australian Open. Muchová also played quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 2019 and 2021.
Muchova opened the match in front of her parents with a break, and although Avanesjanova soon retaliated with the same coin, the Czech won three games in a row from 2-2. The first time she didn’t finish the set, but on the second attempt she finished it with a clean game.
In the second set, the Czech tennis player also managed two early breaks and led 4:1. The Russian did not give up the match, she reduced and turned away four match points. Muchova finally used the fifth one on her opponent’s serve and was happy to advance. In total, she broke seven of the Russian’s ten serves.
