“My coaches were trying to wake me up” – Muchova on disappointing end to great US Open

Karolina Muchova is scrappy under pressure, and saved five match points against Coco Gauff in their US Open semi-final.

But in the hours prior to that, the Czech did not bring her best tennis to the court – and when the match was disrupted by environmental protesters, her team took the opportunity to try and switch things up.

“I tried to take it as a positive, kind of,” Muchova said afterwards. “I could talk to my coaches. They were trying to wake me up.

“So, yeah, I tried, but I think then after the break I actually played a little bit better, but it was not enough to, yeah, to play great against Coco, to beat her.”

Muchova: You need 100 per cent against Gauff

It was a contrast to her crushingly dominant display against Sorana Cirstea in the quarter-final, when she won 6-0, 6-3.

“Two days ago I felt like I cannot do a mistake on the court and the other matches it’s tough to compare because every match is different,” she added. “This one today you need to bring, you know, maybe 100% to beat her because she’s top athlete, top player. You really need to be there to get a chance to get a win.

“I don’t think I played my 60% today, so I had not zero chance, but even if I had chance there, I didn’t take it today.”

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