By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday August 20, 2023

Karolina Muchova will be celebrating her birthday in more ways than one on Monday. The Czech turns 27, and has earned a special honor on her birthday: she’ll enter the Top 10 for the first time on Monday after reaching her first 1000-level final at Cincinnati.



Muchova has had a brilliant season, reaching the Roland-Garros final in June, where she was barely edged by Iga Swiatek in the final, and is finally getting the number next to her name to match her prodigious shotmaking talent.

For a woman who has been held back by injuries at many junctures in her career, the milestone is extra special.

Muchova finished 2022 at 149 in the world, a far cry from her current world-beating status on tour.

“I think I was even outside of 200 end of the last year, so it's incredible,” she said on Saturday after defeating Aryna Sabalenka for her fifth Top-10 win of the season. “I mean, I always was hoping and believing that I can be up there, but you never know.”

Muchova, born in the city of Olomouc in eastern Czech Republic, moved to train in Prague in 2019, at the same club that 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova trains at.

She is happy to have put her health issues behind her for the moment. And proud to call herself a Top 10 player for the first time.

“In the past, my health was a big issue – it always stopped me,” she said. “I'm just really, really pleased with how it's going. To be in the top 10, I can say for the rest of my life that I was a Top-10 tennis player from all of the people. It's a great achievement.”