Coco Gauff beats Karolina Muchova to win the China Open final

Coco Gauff claimed her second title of the season and the eighth of her career with a convincing 6-1, 6-3 victory over Karolina Muchova in the final of the China Open on Sunday in Beijing.

The fourth-seeded Gauff scored six aces and won 28 of 33 of her first serve points en route to victory in 76 minutes.

The 20-year-old Gauff became the first player to win each of her first seven WTA hardcourt finals in the Open Era. She also became the second American woman to win the championship, following Serena Williams’ title runs in 2004 and 2013.

Gauff, who began the season with a successful title defense at the ASB Classic in Auckland, wasted little time in her career against Muchova and improved to 3-0. She also defeated the Czech in Cincinnati last year and in the semi-finals of the 2023 US Open. Muchova suffered a wrist injury in this game in New York, which led to a significant absence.

“I want to congratulate you Karolina, it’s great to see you on tour again,” said Gauff. “I think you’re such a great player, you deserve everything and hopefully you’ll play a lot more finals.”

Muchova had a different view of the game.

“You literally kicked my butt again today,” said Muchova, who made 24 unforced errors and managed just 14 winners in the two sets.

Gauff was probably pleased with the quick battle, having had to recover from stumbles in the first set in each of her last two games. She earned a 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Yuliia Starodubtseva of Ukraine in the quarterfinals and a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Paula Badosa of Spain in the semifinals.

Gauff was also quick to praise her newly assembled team, which includes Matt Daly, who joined after parting ways with coach Brad Gilbert.

“I would like to thank my team. It’s our first tournament together as a complete team,” said Gauff. “Thanks Matt, this is our first tournament together and obviously it’s going well, so thanks for helping me this week.”

Considered one of the sport’s top coaches and analysts, Gilbert joined Gauff’s team in July 2023 and became her head coach soon after. Gauff reached the second place of his career in the world rankings in June under Gilbert’s coach.

However, the relationship has been publicly strained in recent months, with Gauff calling out her coaching team after a tough loss to No. 19 seed Emma Navarro at Wimbledon.

Coco Gauff beats Karolina Muchova to win the China Open final

ByJasper

By Jasper

Related Post

Oprah Winfrey chooses Lisa Marie Presley’s posthumous memoir as her next book club pick

Jenna Fischer reveals battle with breast cancer and is now cancer free

Lisa Marie Presley’s book tells why she kept her son’s body at home two months after his death

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You missed

Oprah Winfrey chooses Lisa Marie Presley’s posthumous memoir as her next book club pick

Jenna Fischer reveals battle with breast cancer and is now cancer free

Lisa Marie Presley’s book tells why she kept her son’s body at home two months after his death

Bethesda’s Indiana Jones can’t be the only game to use Harrison Ford’s likeness