Muchova arrives in this one with her tail up. She needed barely an hour to take apart Sinja Kraus in the opening round, 6-3 6-0, and she is already carrying a trophy around Flushing Meadows this fortnight after winning the mixed doubles title alongside Jakub Mensik. That is a lot of comfortable court time on these exact courts before the singles even got serious. Boulter got through her opener but it was messy. She dropped the middle set against Carol Young Suh Lee before running away with the decider 6-0, and matches that swing around like that tend to say the level is not settled yet. Her game is built on the serve and big first strike hitting, so she can steal a set from anyone on a hot day, but when the serve dips she gives up rhythm cheaply. That is exactly the sort of opponent Muchova enjoys. The variety, the slice, the short angles, the willingness to come forward, all of it drags a rhythm player out of the patterns they want to live in. Boulter would need to be near her ceiling to hang around for two sets. Backing Muchova to get it done in straight sets is the sensible way in, because the outright price gives you almost nothing. Two nil is the scoreline that fits everything we have seen this week.