Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- 06 Oct 2024
Coco Gauff overpowered Karolina Muchova in straight sets to win the China Open on Sunday for her second title of the year and eighth overall.
The 20-year-old American and last year's US Open champion stormed to victory 6-1, 6-3 in one hour, 16 minutes in Beijing.
After a disappointing few months by her standards, including surrendering her New York crown in the last 16, Gauff adds the China Open to her triumph in Auckland in January.
The sixth-ranked Gauff, under a new coaching team in the Chinese capital after splitting with Brad Gilbert last month, wiped away tears at the end.
It was Gauff's third win in as many matches against Muchova, who suffered a career-threatening wrist injury and missed 10 months of tennis before returning this summer.
"It's great to see you back on court. You're such an amazing player and hopefully we play many more finals," Gauff told her beaten Czech opponent.
"It's incredible to see how well you've managed your season after so many injuries," said Gauff, whose mother was court-side to see her biggest win since the US Open.
It proved one match too far for Muchova, who at 49 in the world was the lowest-ranked finalist in the history of the prestigious WTA 1000 tournament.
"You kicked my butt," said Muchova, last year's French Open finalist and a two-time US Open semi-finalist.
Fast start
Gauff made a fast start, breaking for a 2-0 lead in the first set and then holding her own serve without conceding a point. The young American was up 3-0 with barely 10 minutes on the clock.
The 28-year-old Muchova sent down an ace to get on the board but Gauff was in the mood and her serve — her biggest problem of late — was firing.
Gauff had three break points in the sixth game and converted the first to streak to a 5-1 lead against a shell-shocked Muchova. Gauff rattled off her third ace of the match to give her two set points.
Her serving wobbles momentarily returned but she wrapped the first set up in 29 minutes on her third set point.
Muchova, chasing only the second title of her career, dumped out top seed Aryna Sabalenka in the quarter-finals and then beat Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen. She belatedly found her feet at the start of the second set and broke for a 2-0 lead, only for Gauff to break back immediately on the way to a comfortable win.
Sinner rallies past Martin
World number one Jannik Sinner said he needed a day off after pushing through his tiredness to come from a set down and beat Argentina's Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 6-2 at the Shanghai Masters on Sunday.
He will be joined in the last 16 by Daniil Medvedev, who also had to rally to overcome tenacious Italian Matteo Arnaldi 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
A weary-looking Sinner dropped the first set on a tiebreak to the 37th-ranked Etcheverry, just three days after losing a 3hr 21min China Open final in Beijing to Carlos Alcaraz.
But the 23-year-old recovered in the second set, breaking Etcheverry twice to level the match before easing to victory. "Tomorrow is one day off which I really need, I felt it physically today," Sinner said. "I had some chances in first set but couldn't use them... I'm very happy with how I bounced back," he added.
World number five Medvedev broke early in the first set but 36th-ranked Arnaldi kept his cool to break back in the sixth game on an unforced error from the Russian. Arnaldi broke again in the 12th game after Medvedev hit long.
The Russian's mood darkened under pressure from Arnaldi in the second set and he was slapped with two code violations and a point penalty after arguing with the umpire.
The 28-year-old former world number one recovered to take the match to a deciding set and came through after 2hr 44min.
"I was expecting him to play differently, he played very good," Medvedev said of Arnaldi. "To be honest in the first set I should have done better. The second and third were even closer... but at the end I'm happy to win."
Play was only possible under the roof of the main court as rain forced matches on the outside courts to be postponed for the second day in a row.
Agence France-Presse