Karolina Muchova's toolbox far too vast for Sorana Cirstea to handle

A saying deployed in many disciplines goes that if your only tool is a hammer, then you see the solution to every problem as a nail. But in an interactive, competitive endeavor like tennis, what happens when your opponent arrives with a much bigger toolbox?

This was the question that plagued Sorana Cirstea for 98 minutes this evening during her 6-0, 6-3 loss to Karolina Muchova in the quarterfinals of the US Open. Said the tenth-seeded Muchova, “I felt very good actually from the start till the end.”

Cirstea’s primary tools were her side-to-side movement and fighting spirit. Seeded 30th, the 33-year-old Romanian had dug deep to reach the final eight of a major for only the second time—more than 14 years after she first went that far, back at Roland Garros in 2009. In New York, Cirstea had earned impressive wins over such formidable opponents as 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina and 2021 Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic.

But those victories did little to prepare Cirstea for the range of tools Muchova regularly trots out. Pinpoint serves, crisp forehands, sliced and driven backhands, dart-like volleys, line-touching lobs, and feathery drop shots all surfaced tonight.

As just one example of Muchova’s skill, Cirstea served in the second set at 3-5, 40-love. Muchova took a go, smacked a forehand return, came to net, and clipped off a forehand volley winner.

“Nothing to lose,” said Muchova.

Two points later, Muchova again approached and brought it to deuce. Jolted by seeing her lead vanish, Cirstea overhit a forehand swing volley. On match point, Muchova lined an untouchable down-the-line forehand.

“I remember last year I was really struggling with injury,” she said. “I lost here first round and I couldn't continue, so yeah, just really glad to be competing.”

Muchova is the contemporary exemplar of the kind of all-court, textured, point-building tennis aficionados have long savored—from the likes of Ash Barty, Justine Henin, Roger Federer, Martina Navratilova, John McEnroe, Evonne Goolagong and others who were masters at both baseline disruption and forward movement. Over the last few decades, for reasons worthy of several dissertations and discussions with zealous tennis parents, this versatility has become increasingly rare. As Muchova showed earlier this year when she reached the finals at Roland Garros, it is viable, refreshing, and compelling.

Just don’t let all that elegance deceive you. Muchova is also a fighter.

“I think with my body it kind of needed some time,” she said, “and then it was, like, continuous work and try to figure out stuff, how to keep myself healthy and not be injured after almost every match.”

Muchova is the contemporary exemplar of the kind of all-court, textured, point-building tennis aficionados have long savored.

Commanding as the final score was, this match had moments of drama and even tension. With Muchova serving at 3-0 in the first set, the two played a 26-point, 18-minute, 10-deuce game. Though Cirstea reached break point nine times, she was unable to convert any. Fittingly, the game ended when Muchova countered a drop shot from Cirstea with a sweet re-drop that extracted an error.

Opening the second set, Cirstea held from 15-40 and broke Muchova from game point down to go up 2-0. But that lead soon vanished. Tenacious as Cirstea had been all tournament long, her willpower frequently faded in the face of Muchova’s ability to mix patience with precision. One metric of intrigue: Cirstea was 11 of 27 at the net, a distressingly low success rate. Muchova was 13 of 17.

It's likely Muchova will attack the net far more in Thursday’s semi versus Coco Gauff. In their only prior meeting, just last month in the finals of Cincinnati, Gauff won 6-3, 6-4.

“She's very athletic,” said Muchova. “She never gives up. Runs for every ball. Doesn't do many mistakes. So she has kind of all the strokes. So very, very good player from all the aspects.”

Call this rematch a case of two players armed with vast toolboxes.