Karolina Muchova serves her way past Zheng Qinwen for Beijing final clash with Coco Gauff

Is it finally Karolina Muchova’s turn to lift a notable trophy?

The immensely talented all-court player who’s overcome multiple injury derailments in her career will find out Sunday when she faces Coco Gauff for the China Open crown.

Muchova dashed local hopes for a Chinese champion Saturday evening when she defeated Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen, 6-3, 6-4, with a brilliant serving display in Beijing. The 28-year-old is now a victory away from ending a five-plus year title drought.

"Tough battle out there today. I was happy I was able to hold my serve during the whole match. That helped a lot," Muchova told press.

After five holds to start, Muchova lined up two break points in the sixth game with a booming backhand winner up the line. On the ensuing point, a concerning scene emerged when Zheng’s left foot tripped her up on the baseline.

Needing a moment to process the nasty spill, the 21-year-old received treatment on her right wrist and fingers before resuming. Zheng would see her one chance in the set to break back erased by the 2023 French Open finalist at 5-3, 30-40 with an unreturnable serve out wide.

At 1-1 in the second set, two unforced errors and a double fault from Zheng handed her opponent the break. The No. 5 seed fought to stay with her opponent, saving two match points along the way, but ultimately couldn’t make enough impact on return. After one hour and 47 minutes, Muchova officially avenged her Palermo final loss to Zheng.

The current world No. 49 is through to her second WTA 1000 title match. Gauff prevailed to win their 2023 Cincinnati championship clash and followed it up by besting the Czech in Muchova’s first of successive US Open semifinal runs.

"She is such a great athlete. She can run left, right. She's like a moving wall. It's tough to hit some winners and make it shorter. That's for sure a challenge," says Muchova of the 20-year-old American. "It's very different here. Very different conditions to US Open and Cincinnati. I'll try to take advantage of that."

A win over Gauff would see the Olomouc native cap her tournament by taking out three Top 5 seeds. In the quarterfinals, Muchova eliminated top seed Aryna Sabalenka to end the world No 2’s 15-match win streak.