World Number 6 Coco Gauff put together a dominant display to dispatch of the highly talented Czech Karolina Muchova, winning her first title in nearly 9 months in the process.
Before the Beijing Masters began, it had been somewhat of an underwhelming year for Coco Gauff on tour. Despite starting the year very well, with victory at the Auckland Open, the rest of the season had gone trophyless.
Despite putting together good runs to the semi-finals of the Australian and French Open, after winning the US Open in 2023, Gauff would perhaps have been disappointed to not gain another Grand Slam title.
However, despite some difficulties in the earlier rounds against the likes of Naomi Osaka, Yulia Starodubtsewa, and Paula Bados, Gauff appeared to have saved her best tennis for the final.
Her opponent would be the world number 58, Karolina Muchova, but do not be distracted by Muchova’s deceptively low ranking. In 2023, Muchova reached a career high ranking of 8 after reaching the French Open final and the US Open semi-final. A lengthy wrist injury derailed her career for the majority of 2024, but a recent comeback saw her also reach the semi-finals of the most recent US Open.
Muchova had beaten some top players in Beijing, most notably World number 1 Aryna Sabalenka and Olympic gold medallist Qinwen Zheng, but Gauff had too much for the talented Czech on the day.
In one of her best performances, Gauff demonstrated her immense power and athleticism in the complete destruction of Muchova in 1 hour and 17 minutes, 6-1, 6-3.
This huge victory for Gauff at the Beijing Masters catapulted her from 6th to 4th in the world rankings, more or less solidifying her place in the WTA tour finals in November.
This was Gauff’s first tournament with her new coach, Matt Daly, and she paid tribute to the change of staff in her post-match interview, joking that “obviously things are going well.”
The only aspect of Gauff’s game that needs improving at the moment is her serve; if Daly is able to fix these issues, then she may be able to better compete with the likes of Sabalenka and Swiatek in the future.
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