Pegula has worked her way up the rankings in recent years, culminating in reaching the long-awaited Grand Slam final.

It wasn’t easy. For years, she was asked about her problems in the quarterfinals. Previously, she had reached the last eight of every major tournament, but failed to get through after six attempts.

She split with her regular coach David Witt at the beginning of the year, because she suffered from an injury. Her neck and back problems meant that she could no longer play on clay.

Pegula also had little joy at the Grand Slams: he missed the French Open and lost in the second round of the Australian Open and Wimbledon.

Earlier in the week she played a great match against the cheating Swiatek, putting her quarterfinal defeat behind her, but against Muchova she started terribly, much to the surprise of the crowd.

With her family, including her father Terry, owner of the Buffalo Bills, watching, Pegula made a lot of mistakes on the court. Muchova won 19 of the last 23 points to be the deciding factor in the season opener.

It looked like the Czech, a wonderfully agile player, would beat Pegula when she broke her serve in the first game of the second set and extended it to a 2-0 lead.

Pegula then trailed 30-40 on serve and was facing a double break deficit until Muchova missed a routine volley to shift the momentum back to the American.

Egged on by the crowd, the two exchanged breaks, after which Muchova showed her worst tennis of the match, which meant her break and decided the match.

While Muchova raised her game, Pegula was in fine form and rarely missed from the baseline, claiming a crucial early break before pressing home when her opponent sent her shot over the line.