Karolina Muchova booked her place in her second consecutive US Open semifinal with a 6-1, 6-4 defeat of No.22 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia in 1 hour and 25 minutes.

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The Czech required medical treatment and left the court on multiple occasions in the second set, and explained later that she was fighting a bug. However, she kept her focus to close out a victory that marks a remarkable comeback from injury.

"A little weird match, I have to say," Muchova said in the on-court interview. "I had a lot of problems, I wouldn't like to comment on it. I'm happy I managed it, to run to the bathroom and back. Sorry if it disturbed anyone, but I had no other choice!"

Muchova will play No.6 seed Jessica Pegula as she bids to make her second Grand Slam final following Roland Garros 2023. Pegula leads her 1-0, having edged the Czech in three sets last month at the Cincinnati Open.

Muchova's run to the 2023 semifinals turned out to be the last tournament she would play for another nine months as she underwent wrist surgery. But in just her sixth event since returning to action in June and now ranked No.52, Muchova has roared into the fourth major semifinal of her career without dropping a set. She is the fourth unseeded major semifinalist of 2024, following Dayana Yastremska (Australian Open), Mirra Andreeva (Roland Garros) and Donna Vekic (Wimbledon).

The result is Muchova's fourth win in as many meetings with Haddad Maia. The pair first met in the qualifying of the 2016 Cagnes-sur-Mer ITF W100 event, which Muchova won 7-5, 6-1. She went on to triumph in both their tour-level encounters as well, in the first rounds of Ostrava 2022 and Cincinnati 2023.

Remarkably, the US Open is the first tour-level event at which Muchova has reached multiple semifinals. She is the first Czech woman to reach consecutive US Open semifinals since Helena Sukova in 1986-87.

Keys to the match: The match opened with two multi-deuce tussles -- and Muchova set the tone by winning them both. Three consecutive service winners extricated her from an opening game in which she saved two break points, then she sealed her fifth break point on Haddad Maia's delivery with a powerful off forehand.

That start didn't help Haddad Maia settle. The Brazilian fell away in the first set, committing 10 unforced errors to only six winners. Though she raised her level in the second, it was Muchova who struck first, nailing a backhand winner down the line to break for 3-2.

But by now, it was clear Muchova was ailing. After on-court medical treatment, she handed the break back with two double faults and two netted forehands. Her dip in form was brief, though. If anything, from 3-3 Muchova played with even greater precision and focus, aiming to hit her targets and open up the court for winners as soon as possible in the rallies.

The strategy succeeded. The home stretch of the match saw her reel off a succession of precisely-placed forehand winners and maintain a superb serving level. In total, Muchova made 76% of her first serves, and dropped just eight of those points. She tallied 19 winners overall to Haddad Maia's 12.

Muchova on injuries: "Injuries, I don't even like to talk about injuries. I've been through a lot of them. This last one, the wrist surgery, was one of the worst ones that I had. 

"Now looking back, I'm like, 'Oh, it actually flew by, the time, and I feel strong again.' But when I go back to February I have to say I wasn't always that positive. It was tough moments, honestly, when I couldn't move the arm and couldn't do much. 

"But it's few bad days, and then I always try to just regroup and focus on the step that I could do, what's the first step I can do towards recovery. I had really great team of doctors around me, and my team who is with me all the time supporting me. We worked a lot. And through every injury, we always stick together and work on it to get healthy again and be able to play."