Start time: Noon ET, 9 a.m. PT; TV: ESPN, Tennis Channel

Karolina Muchova has been here before. Muchova has already surpassed her expectations for the year — not by getting back into the quarterfinals, but by getting onto a tennis court at all.

Wrist surgery kept her off the WTA Tour for nine months, just as she had appeared poised to entrench her position at the very top of tennis.

She’s reminding the world of her quality now — and Muchova would be a formidable opponent to either Jessica Pegula or Iga Swiatek, who she took to three sets in the 2023 French Open final.

Swiatek got to that French Open final by beating Beatriz Haddad Maia, Muchova’s opponent, in the semifinal. That remains Haddad Maia’s deepest run at a Grand Slam tournament, and she has never been beyond the second round at the U.S. Open until now.

Muchova has won this matchup three times out of three, but the first was in 2016, and the most recent, in Cincinnati last year, went the distance.