Karolina Muchova reached her second Grand Slam singles final and her first at Wimbledon on Thursday, saving a match point to outlast No. 7 seed Coco Gauff 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(10) in a thrilling semifinal that lasted two hours and 35 minutes.

Playing on Centre Court for the first time, the 29-year-old Czech controlled much of the opening set with her all-court game before Gauff stormed back to level the match. The deciding-set tiebreak swung repeatedly before Muchova held her nerve, winning the final two points after saving match point to book her place in Saturday’s championship match.

Muchova finished with 31 winners to Gauff’s 32 but committed fewer unforced errors (32 to 35). She converted two of six break points, while Gauff converted two of 13. Muchova also won 69 percent of her first-serve points and 58 percent of her second-serve points, while Gauff was especially effective at the net, winning 32 of 45 net points (71 percent).

The Czech admitted afterward that she needed a moment to process the victory.

Photo: Proshots

“It was unbelievable fight. I’m just trying to enjoy the moment.”

Muchova acknowledged the tension during the deciding tiebreak after receiving a time violation.

“I forgot about it. I forgot about the time violation. Yeah, I guess I was on the limit. I didn’t see it at that time, honestly. I didn’t check the clock. Was just trying to take a little more time. Maybe didn’t really do much to me, to be honest, yeah.”

Asked how she stayed committed to her attacking style despite the momentum swings, Muchova said:

“No, honestly during that tiebreak, it was like kind of roller coaster as well emotionally for me. One point I felt good, I hit a nice winner, and then I did like a terrible mistake.

“In my head was just like I have to keep hitting. I was telling myself if I’m going to lose this, I want to lose on my own terms. My terms is going forward, playing aggressive, going to the net.

“Even though Coco, she is incredible athlete and she always gives you that one point back, I would say, so even though I knew when I hit a volley that she is still going to be there and hit few unreal passing shots throughout the whole match, but it’s kind of my game. I just wanted to stick to it.”

On reaching another major final, Muchova said:

“It’s a very special moment. It’s a great achievement. This is one of the biggest tournaments that we have with all the, again, I’ll repeat myself, history, so many legends were playing here, as well to just get to play on the Centre Court, it was so nice.

“Yeah, just incredibly glad and happy that it happened and that I have a chance to play another final.”

For Gauff, the defeat ended an impressive run to her deepest Wimbledon showing. The American fought back brilliantly after dropping the opening set and came within one point of victory before Muchova escaped.

Reflecting on the deciding moments, Gauff said:

“I mean, there’s one thing to be, like, why play a dropshot, but then I think how many points I won off the dropshot.

“Yes, people who don’t watch tennis are going to be like, Why did you do that? At the end of the day, that’s the choice I made. Was it the right one in that moment? Maybe not. But then also, if I make it, everyone’s going to say how clutch of a shot that was.

“I think that’s just tennis. You lose some points off margins. Honestly, the return came back like in a tricky place for me. The bounce kind of caught me off guard. I just panicked a little bit. I think it just takes moments like this to learn from, have more of a clear, concise plan of what I want to do.

“At the end of the day, I left it all out there. My only regret – or I don’t have any regrets. I think it’s just obviously points I want to make better decisions on. But that’s how you learn and become a better player.”

Despite the disappointment, Gauff was encouraged by her progress on grass.

“Yeah, I definitely think I’m progressing in the right direction with the serve, with being aggressive in. There’s definitely some points I regret maybe being passive like than some of those break points. It’s going to take some time putting myself in these positions to unlearn habits and build new ones.

“Hate me or love me, you can’t deny the progress that’s been made this tournament. I don’t know, there’s a lot of positives. It gets me excited for the future, for sure.”

Asked how long the loss would stay with her, Gauff replied:

“I mean, I’m going to think about it tonight. Yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know if I’ve ever lost a match after having match point. If I did, I don’t remember the last time. I don’t know how long it will take me.

“I don’t think that long, honestly. I think, yeah, right after I was a lot of emotions right after the match. But now I’m just, like, one decision away, maybe I’m sitting in this press conference in a different mood.”