BEIJING — World number six Coco Gauff dominated unseeded Czech Karolina Muchova to win the China Open final 6-1 6-3 and become the first player to win each of their first seven WTA hardcourt finals in the Open Era.
Gauff fired off 24 winners in a strong performance to add the Beijing trophy to her win in the Auckland Classic this year and win the second WTA 1000 title of her career after her 2023 victory in Cincinnati, where she also beat Muchova in the final.
Gauff, who improved her head-to-head record against Muchova to 3-0, has won eight of her nine WTA finals.
“I want to say congratulations to you, Karolina, it’s great to see you back on tour,” Gauff said of her opponent Muchova, who spent an extended spell on the sidelines after suffering a wrist injury at the 2023 US Open.
“I think you’re such an amazing player, and you deserve everything, and hopefully you play many more finals,” Gauff added according to Reuters.
The tournament was Gauff’s first after adding Matt Daly to her coaching team, following her split with Brad Gilbert last month.
“I would like to thank my team. It’s our first tournament together as a full, complete team,” Gauff said.
“Thank you Matt, this is our first tournament together, and obviously, it’s going well, so thank you for helping me throughout this week.”
Heading into the final, Gauff had lost the first set in three straight matches and the former US Open champion seemed determined to buck that trend, serving to love in the opening game and breaking early for a 2-0 lead.
The American continued to build on that momentum with two more holds to love, before breaking once again to go 5-1 ahead. “That’s pretty cool,” Gauff said according to wtatennis.com. “I hope somebody else breaks it. I think records are meant to be broken, honestly.
“Honestly, it means a lot when I saw that the last American woman to win this was Serena Williams. Anytime my name is mentioned in whatever sentence hers is, it’s a huge honor.”
She has now won two WTA 1000 titles after capturing her first last summer at the Cincinnati Open, where she also beat Muchova in the final. She is the second-youngest player to win her first two WTA 1000 finals after Bianca Andreescu, (2019 Indian Wells, Toronto).
Gauff’s title run in Beijing has shored up her quest to qualify for the WTA Finals Riyadh for the third consecutive year.
The American entered the week at No.6 on the Race to the PIF WTA Finals. With the title, she will overtake US Open finalist Jessica Pegula and Jasmine Paolini to sit at No.4 heading into the final WTA 1000 of the season at the Wuhan Open.
After dropping no points in her first three service games, some doubt crept in as Gauff was forced to defend a break point, but she was able to clinch the set with an emphatic forehand winner.
Gauff’s serve continued to falter early in the second set, leading to two double faults in her opening service game as Muchova broke for a 2-0 lead, but the American responded by turning up the aggression and approaching the net to break back immediately.
Muchova, who beat Australian Open and US Open champion Aryna Sabalenka and Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in previous rounds, appeared deflated after losing her advantage and won just two points in the next three games as Gauff eased to a 4-2 lead.
The pair traded holds before the fourth seed sealed the win by breaking serve when Muchova’s backhand sailed long on match point.
Gauff improved to 3-0 against Muchova and has won all six sets against the Czech. She also improved her outstanding record in finals to 8-1.
Coming off a trio of comeback wins over Naomi Osaka, Yuliia Starodubtseva, and Paula Badosa, Gauff dominated Muchova from the first point in a 76-minute match that featured feats of athleticism that drew repeated gasps from the sellout crowd of 15,000.
Muchova entered Sunday’s match confident after back-to-back Top-10 wins over US Open champion Aryna Sabalenka and Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen.
But she could not solve the match-up against Gauff, who struck 24 winners while holding Muchova to just 14. The Czech’s precision was lacking, as she misfired on 24 unforced errors. Gauff in contrast, hit a tidy eight unforced errors.
“I lost to her three times in a row,” Muchova said. “I’ll say, very similar losses. I lost them all the same way. It was always the latest rounds of the tournaments when I got many matches under the belt. It’s very physical with her. I felt like the second one always in the rallies.”
After an opening service hold to love, Gauff was off to the races, breaking Muchova immediately and quickly widening the gap on the scoreline with aggressive hitting from the baseline and resilient corner-to-corner defense.
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