Jessica Pegula uses comeback to reach the final of the US Open

There will be no all-American women's final at the US Open on Saturday.

But Jessica Pegula wants to make it an American day.

Buffalo-born Pegula stormed back to defeat Karolina Muchova 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 in Thursday night's semifinals.

Before this week, she had never reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal and had an overall record of 0-6 in semifinals.

But thanks to her comeback, she is now 15-1 since the Olympics and will now face No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, who ended Manhattan-born Emma Navarro's dream run with a convincing 6-3, 7-6 (2) victory just hours earlier.

“It's unbelievable. I'm just happy that I was able to turn this match around, and on such a big stage,” said Pegula, whose 3-6, 5-7 loss to Sabalenka in the Cincinnati final was her only defeat since Paris. “She showed why she's probably the favorite. It's going to be a rematch against Cincinnati. Hopefully I can get revenge.”

Pegula – whose parents Terry and Kim own the Buffalo Bills and Sabres – showed enough mental toughness to work his way out of an early slump.

She was one set down at 0-2 and had one break point before taking the lead.

Muchova, who left the court twice in the quarterfinals on Wednesday with an upset stomach, sprained her back after the second set and was breathing heavily in the third set at 2:4, had to decide this match in the second set.

She had a chance and missed it.

When Pegula hit a forehand slice return at 40-30 and Muchova botched an absurdly easy volley – the ball went wide into an empty court – Pegula seized the golden opportunity.

“I thought, 'Okay, that was kind of lucky. You're still in it.' It's the little moments that count,” Pegula said on television. “She made me look like a rookie. I was about to burst into tears. She destroyed me.”

“At the end of the second movement, in the third, I began [my legs]. Honestly, I don't know how I changed that.”

After Muchova had won eight of the nine games up to that point, Pegula won nine of the next eleven.

She found her stride, took the second set thanks to a double fault from Muchova and built a 3-0 lead in the third set.

She ended the match and secured one last date with Sabalenka.

The latter hopes that things will go better than a year ago, when she suffered a defeat in the final against Coco Gauff.

For the great Belarusian, it is a chance to make amends for her collapse, in which she lost not only to Gauff, but also to the partisan audience and to herself.

But on Thursday she showed more mental strength against Navarro.

“At the end of the second set, I got a little emotional and had a flashback to last year's final. … I'm really glad I learned my lesson and was able to control my emotions,” Sabalenka said. “Last year was a very tough experience, a very tough lesson.” [Thursday] During the match I thought, 'No, no, no, Aryna, this won't happen again. You have to keep your emotions under control. You have to focus on yourself.'”

Sabalenka hit 34 aces and limited Navarro to just 4 of 16 on her second serves.

For Navarro – who was born in Manhattan to billionaire Ben Navarro – it was a loss, but it was the culmination of a successful season.

At the beginning of the year, she had only a 1-4 record in the majors, but reached the third round in Australia, the fourth round at the French Open and the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.

“It's crazy coming into this tournament two weeks ago. I was joking with my team – but also being a little bit serious – that I was trying to win a match at the US Open,” said the 23-year-old Navarro. “Now that I've gone on a run and reached the semifinals and now I'm a top-10 player, it's pretty crazy, so special.”

“When I play in front of the American fans and wear the American flag next to my name, I am very proud of my homeland … Coming back [from the Olympics] and to be able to play in the US, especially here in New York City, is pretty incredible. It definitely made me look back at where I started and where I am now, and I feel like it's only going to get better. Yeah, it's really special to be playing here in New York.”