The 2024 US Open women's singles semifinal brackets have been set. In one half of the bracket, No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka will face No. 13 seed Emma Navarro of the United States. In the other half, unseeded Karolina Muchova will remain the only unseeded player and will try to beat No. 6 seed Jessica Pegula of the United States.
Navarro and Sabalenka played on Tuesday, and the final semifinal was on Wednesday night, with Pegula facing top-seeded Iga Swiatek, the most dominant force in women's tennis for the past few years, but Pegula was barely able to compete against Swiatek, who was reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal.
Pegula dominated the first set, but Swiatek came back to life in the second. After an early break from Pegula, Swiatek broke back to keep the match in. Swiatek fought to stay in the match for 15 points in the final half of the set, but was eventually broken by an unforced forehand error. Clearly frustrated, Swiatek was unable to do much after that.
Muchova has had an impressive run so far, beating ever-tough opponent Naomi Osaka in the second round and winning two straight matches against seeded players, including fifth-seeded Jasmine Paolini (6-3, 6-3) in the round of 16 and 22nd-seeded Beatrice Haddad Maia (6-1, 6-4) in the quarterfinals.
The 28-year-old Czech is reaching her second US Open semi-final after also reaching it last year. Her best Grand Slam result to date is a French Open final in 2023. Wednesday's win over Maia was of high quality, with Muchova winning 78% of her first serves and breaking four times to seal the victory.
Coming into the tournament in Cincinnati, Pegula had won her only match against Muchova, and that was on a hard court.
Sabalenka and Navarro have met twice before, with mixed results – Navarro's lone win on hard courts and Sabalenka's win over Navarro on clay at the French Open earlier this year. When it comes to on-court success, the 26-year-old Sabalenka has the more accolades. She has won two major Grand Slams, both at the Australian Open, one of which came earlier this season.
And Navarro is currently ranked 12th in singles, a career-high ranking. This will be the 23-year-old's first Grand Slam semifinal, but his best result to date is a quarterfinal at Wimbledon. In fact, he has had his best results in all four Grand Slam tournaments this year, reaching the third round in Australia and the fourth round in France.
Sabalenka's best wins to date have come in straight sets in her last two meetings against seeded players, No. 33 seed Elise Mertens (6-2, 6-4) and No. 7 seed Qingwen Zheng (6-1, 6-2). Zheng was fresh off an Olympic gold medal victory, but Sabalenka beat her with ease. Navarro's biggest win before reaching the semifinals was in the round of 16 against No. 3 seed Coco Gauff of the United States. Navarro needed three sets to win, but ultimately won 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
Swiatek has had some impressive tennis results over the last few years, but she's looking to erase some inconsistent matches: She's won four French Open titles and the 2022 U.S. Open, but she didn't have the best results of her career at the Australian Open or Wimbledon this season (her best results were the semifinals and quarterfinals at the former and latter, respectively).
More recently, she won a bronze medal at the Olympics, which was clearly an achievement, but fell short of the gold medal that was expected of her. She lost in straight sets to eventual gold medalist Zheng Qinwen, then beat Anna Karolina Shmidorova in the bronze medal match. While this result at the US Open is disappointing for her, it's more of a setback for the 23-year-old than anything else.
The women's semifinals are scheduled for Thursday, September 5. Matches will take place on the Main Court at Arthur Ashe Stadium, with the first two matches kicking off at 7:00 PM ET. ESPN and ESPN Plus have broadcast and streaming rights for the tournament, and both semifinals will be broadcast on ESPN. Below is the women's semifinal schedule, followed by a breakdown of each player's progress from the tournament through the final round.
US Open Tennis Women's Semifinals
No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka vs. No. 13 Emma Navarro
Karolina Muchova vs. No.6 Jessica Pegula
No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka's path to the semifinals
Defeated Priscilla Hong 6-3, 6-3
No doubt about it. Lucia Bronzetti, 6-3, 6-1
No doubt about it. No.29 Ekaterina Alexandrova 2-6, 1-6, 6-2
Defeated #33 Elise Mertens 6-2, 6-4
No doubt about it. No.7 Zheng Qinwen, 6-1, 6-2
#13 Emma Navarro's Path to the Semifinals
Defeated Anna Blinkova 6-1, 6-1
Defeated Arantxa Rus 6-1, 6-1
No doubt about it. No.19 Marta Kostyuk 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
Defeated No. 3 Coco Gauff 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
No doubt about it. No.26 Paula Badosa 6-2, 7-5
Karolina Muchova's journey to the semi-finals
Katie Volinetz won 6-3, 7-5
Defeated Naomi Osaka 6-3, 7-6 (5)
No doubt about it. Anastasia Potapova, 6-4, 6-2
No doubt about it. No. 5 Jasmine Paolini, 6-3, 6-3
No doubt about it. No. 22 Beatrice Haddad Maia, 6-1, 6-4
6. Jessica Pegula's Path to the Semifinals
Defeated Shelby Rogers 6-4, 6-3
Defeated Sofia Kenin 7-6 (4), 6-3
No doubt about it. Jessica Buzas Maneiro, 6-3, 6-3
Defeated Diana Schneider 6-4, 6-2
No doubt about it. No.1 Iga Swiatek 6-2, 6-4
