Jennifer Brady’s legs were shaking and her heart racing after the American overcame Karolina Muchová and two weeks in hard quarantine to set up an Australian Open final with Japan’s Naomi Osaka.
It will be Brady’s first grand slam final after the 25-year-old stopped Muchová 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in Thursday’s thrilling second semi-final at Melbourne Park.
Third-seeded Osaka earlier ousted seven-times champion Serena Williams 6-3, 6-4 in the first semi.
“I can’t feel my legs,” Brady said after needing four match points to put the Czech away. “My legs are shaking, my heart is racing – I don’t have words. I’m obviously pretty excited to be in the final of the Australian Open,”
Brady described making the final at Melbourne Park as an “incredible achievement”.
But it was all the more incredible given she was one of 51 players in the Open singles draw to be confined to their hotel rooms for 14 days after being on infected charter flights into Melbourne.
“It will be a really tough match, obviously, as she’s won a few grand slams,” Brady said ahead of her fourth career meeting with Osaka, who she lost to in three sets in last year’s US Open semi-finals.
“We had a tough match at the US Open in the semi-finals and she even said it was one of her top two matches, which was unfortunate for me. I think it will be a really good match.”
Ranked 24th in the world, that semi-final run at Flushing Meadows was Brady’s previous best performance at a major.
Big-serving Brady looked in control early against Muchová, who had upset world No 1 Ash Barty in the quarter-finals on Wednesday. But Brady, who is Barty’s doubles partner, did what the Australian could not and resisted a Muchová fightback.
It wasn not easy with Brady’s unforced error count through two sets hitting 30 as she lost her way. Her frustration was evident as she kicked the ball away after the 25th- seed took the second set.
But Brady got the jump early in the third set, crucially breaking Muchová to lead 2-1.
The pair went toe to toe and Brady, serving for the match at 5-4, almost prematurely celebrated when Muchová dumped a backhand in the net on her second match point.
Instead, the electronic line caller found Brady’s previous forehand to have flown millimetres over the baseline.
In the gripping final game, Brady was then forced to save three break points as the steely Czech held on, before the American got the result on her fifth match point.
