The American Coco Gauff, 6th in the world, will try on Sunday to win her first title in nine months against the Czech Karolina Muchova (49th), surprise guest in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing.
Manhandled on Saturday in the semi-final by the Spaniard Paula Badosa (19th), Goff ended up winning in three sets 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. At 20, the American, winner of the 2023 US Open, finally returns to a circuit final nine months after her victory in Auckland in January.
Aged 28, Muchova is playing only her seventh tournament in Beijing after wrist surgery which took her away from the courts after the 2023 US Open, where she reached the semi-finals – beaten by Gauff. The Czech only returned to competition at the Eastbourne tournament at the end of June.
Falling to 49th place in the world after entering the Top 10 in August 2023, she signed a spectacular run in the Chinese capital: after taking out world No.2 Aryna Sabalenka in the quarter, she treated herself to another resident of the Top 10, the Chinese Qinwen Zheng, in two authoritarian sets 6-3, 6-4, and will be at least 30th in the next delivery of the WTA world ranking.
. Gauff back in the final
Against Badosa, Coco Gauff alternated between very good moments and very bad ones (notably 11 double faults) and ended up winning mentally.
At 6-4, 3-1, the 26-year-old Spaniard, former world No.2 who had fallen to 19th place, seemed to be heading towards a victory in two sets. But Gauff then saved four break points to stay in contact. Relaunched in this second set, the American then recovered at 4-4 to finally equalize at one set all.
“I tried to stay focused, it was difficult but, mentally, I had to start from scratch,” she said to explain this reversal.
In the third set, after a few scares, Coco Gauff no longer trembled and won in 2h20 following a new direct error from the Spaniard. In the final, where she will try to win the 8th title of her career, Gauff will have a hard time facing Muchova.
. Muchova back in the forefront
The Czech, whose only title on the circuit dates back to the Seoul tournament in 2019, took the measure of her Qinwen Zheng, who dominated her in the final of the Palermo tournament (clay) last July.
Quickly broken in the first set, the Chinese No.1, who requested a medical timeout to treat her right hand after a fall at the start of the match, offered herself a break point at 5-3 on two winning shots from high level (a backhand volley, a powerful uncrossed forehand).
But Muchova relied on her excellent serve, pulling two aces out of her racket before closing out the first set.
In the second set, she remained solid and focused to break and lead 3-1, helped by the poor services of Zheng, who lacked rigor with uncontrolled risk-taking (31 unforced errors against 10 for her opponent).
Zheng, regaining her combativeness, dismissed the first two match points to return to 4-5 but it was not enough and the Czech finally won on her third final point (the first on her serve), after 1 hour 47 of play.
“I felt good and I was happy to perform well against these great players, to see that I could face them and beat them,” she exulted. “To be in the final here is a very nice feeling.”
ole/gk/cko/hpa
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