Muchova sets championship match with Gauff in Beijing

Karolina Muchova’s comeback from injury continues to rapidly gather momentum as she moved into the final of the WTA 1000 China Open in Beijing.

The 28-year-old player of the Czech Republic defeated No.5 seed Zheng Qinwen 6-3, 6-4 in their semifinal match on Saturday night. Muchova needed 1 hour and 47 minutes of play to topple Chinese hope Zheng, the reigning Olympic gold medalist.

It is Muchova’s second straight Top 10 win this week. She snapped No.1 seed Aryna Sabalenka’s 15-match winning streak in Friday’s quarterfinals.

“I’m just happy I was able to perform well against these big players and put up my game and that I could see that, yeah, I can face them, I can beat them,” former World No.8 Muchova said, after her latest win.

Muchova improves to a 2-1 lead in her head-to-head with Zheng, avenging a loss in this summer’s Palermo final. Muchova is now into her second career WTA 1000 final, following her runner-up showing at Cincinnati last year.

There will be a rematch of that 2023 Cincinnati final on Sunday, when Muchova takes on No.4 seed Coco Gauff for this year’s Beijing title. Gauff overcame No.15 seed Paula Badosa 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in Saturday’s first semifinal.

Gauff notched a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Muchova to claim the Cincinnati title last summer. Weeks later, Gauff improved to 2-0 over Muchova when she bested the Czech in the 2023 US Open semifinals, 6-4, 7-5, en route to the American’s first Grand Slam title.

“We played a year ago, so we are different players today and tomorrow,” Muchova said. “I’ll just try to play my best and challenge her and hope for the best result tomorrow.”