The second Monday of the US Open saw every match on the two main courts, Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong, end in straight sets.
But the only fourth-round match scheduled out on Grandstand delivered tension, quality and history as No. 11 seed Karolina Muchova defeated No. 27 seed Marta Kostyuk 6-3, 6-7(0), 6-3 in 2 hours and 53 minutes. It meant that, for the first time in the Open Era, three Czech women have made the quarterfinals at the US Open.
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All three booked their places there via fourth-round barnburners. Muchova’s win followed Barbora Krejcikova saving eight match points to end Taylor Townsend’s run 1-6, 7-6(13), 6-3 and Marketa Vondrousova’s 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 masterclass over Elena Rybakina on Sunday. Three Czechs have reached the last eight of a single major once previously — at Wimbledon 2014, where champion Petra Kvitova defeated her compatriots Lucie Safarova in the semifinals and Barbora Strycova in the quarterfinals.
Muchova’s run is her third in a row to the US Open quarterfinals — she was a semifinalist in both 2023 and 2024. Krejcikova and Vondrousova are back at this stage for a second time each, having been quarterfinalists in 2021 and 2023 respectively.
“Three of us in the quarters, it’s nice for our country,” Muchova said afterwards. “We are more one by one, honestly, [but] when we see each other here in the locker room, I think we are all happy for each other and we talk. Obviously with Marketa, we are from the same club, so I know her a little better than Bara. But with both of them, nice relationship, we support each other.”
The Czech talent pipeline has, throughout the Open Era, consistently punched above its weight in women’s tennis. This is less to do with an overarching system than availability of opportunities, according to Muchova.
“I wouldn’t really say it’s a system,” she told press. “For me personally, I was practicing most of the time in my hometown, always found myself a coach and built my team. I think for most of us, it was this way. It’s either family or parents helping out. Then when I was older, I moved to Prague and went to the bigger club where there was more players to have more opportunities.
“I wouldn’t say it was the system for me, but it was nice that we had a lot of tournaments that we could compete against each other in the Czech Republic. So that would be probably the one thing that I will tell you is great in Czech Republic.”
Impressively, Muchova has won four three-setters in four matches to reach the quarterfinals. She’s the 12th player in the Open Era to achieve that feat, following: Lesley Hunt (US Open 1978), Sylvia Hanika (US Open 1979), Joanne Russell (Wimbledon 1982), Melissa Brown (Roland Garros 1984), Jennifer Capriati (Wimbledon 1993), Lindsay Davenport (Roland Garros 2005), Jelena Dokic (Australian Open 2009), Maria Sharapova (Roland Garros 2009), Alison Riske-Amritraj (Wimbledon 2019), Jelena Ostapenko (US Open 2023) and Emma Navarro (Australian Open 2025).
The Czech trio’s success this fortnight is all the sweeter given their extensive injury histories. The careers of all three have been marked by remarkable highs, when they’re healthy enough for their talent to flow, punctuated by long periods on the sidelines and rankings that have yo-yoed from inside the Top 10 to outside the Top 100. At the age of 26, Vondrousova has only played a full season twice (2021, when she was the silver medallist at the Tokyo Olympic Games, and 2023, when she won Wimbledon). Muchova, 29, the 2022 Roland Garros finalist, has not played a full season since 2019, and this year was forced to temporarily play with a one-handed backhand due to a left wrist issue.
That’s the cause of another statistical first. Two-time major champion Krejcikova and Vondrousova have both been on the comeback trail yet again this year — Krejcikova was sidelined for the first half of 2025 by a back injury, while Vondrousova underwent shoulder surgery last August. They are ranked No. 62 and No. 60 respectively this week, meaning that for the first time in the Open Era, two Grand Slam champions have reached the quarterfinals of a major while ranked outside the Top 50.
But quality tends to shine through regardless of ranking number — and while the low-key trio may slip out of the spotlight during their absences from the game, they’ve shown this fortnight that they should never be overlooked.
And there’s still more history that could be made at Flushing Meadows. On Tuesday, Vondrousova takes on No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka and Krejcikova faces No. 4 seed Jessica Pegula; on Wednesday, Muchova will play No. 23 seed Naomi Osaka for the third time in the past five majors. In the Open Era, two Czechs have reached the semifinals of a Grand Slam on three previous occasions: Roland Garros 1986 (Hana Mandlikova and Helena Sukova, representing the former Czechoslovakia), Wimbledon 2014 (Kvitova and Safarova) and the Australian Open 2019 (Kvitova and Karolina Pliskova).
If Vondrousova, Krejcikova and Muchova all win their quarterfinals this week, it would be the first time in history that three Czechs have made the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament.