Coco Gauff of the United States kisses the trophy after defeating Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic in the women’s singles final match of the China Open tennis tournament at the National Tennis Center in Beijing on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. Photo Credit: AP
Coco Gauff won her second title this season by defeating Karolina Muchova 6-1, 6-3 in the China Open final on Sunday.
At the age of 20, the sixth-ranked American player became the youngest China Open champion in 14 years. She is also the second American champion in Beijing, after Serena Williams won the title in 2004 and 2013.
“Honestly, it meant a lot when I saw that the last American woman to win it was Serena Williams,” Gauff said. “Whenever my name is mentioned in any of his sentences, it’s a huge honor.”
It was Gauff’s 8th career title. He improved his record to 8–1 in tour finals and now has a record of 7–0 in hard-court finals, a feat never achieved before in the Open era.
“It’s great,” Gough said. “I hope someone else breaks it. “Honestly, I think records are meant to be broken.”
Gauff, defending her Auckland title earlier this season, wasted no time and took the opening set in just 31 minutes. She lost only five points on her first serve, hit 24 winners and broke Muchova five times.
Gauff’s victory in Beijing improved her chances of qualifying for the WTA Finals with the top eight players for the third consecutive year. With her title, she will surpass Jessica Pegula for the No. 5 spot ahead of the Wuhan Open, the final WTA 1000 tournament of the season, which starts on Monday.
Top-ranked Jannik Sinner overcame a set deficit to win 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-2 against Tomas Martin Etcheverry at the Shanghai Masters.
A night after winning the 250th match of his career in straight sets, the 23-year-old Italian faced a tough test in the third round against the 37th-ranked Argentine, under the roof inside the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena, which hosted the game. Was hosted. due to rain.
Sinner will next face No. 16 Ben Shelton, who beat the Italian here last year, or Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena.
Echeverri scored the shot of the night with a spectacular drop volley to force set point in the first set tiebreak, which he converted to take the lead.
Sinner began to find her range better in the second game and after trading breaks midway through the set, the Italian had another chance to level the match.
The momentum was all with Sinner in the third as he broke Echeverri twice more to advance in 2 hours, 39 minutes under a retractable roof at the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena. Due to heavy rain, play was restricted to the main court and all matches on outdoor courts were postponed till Monday.
“It was a very tough match physically (and) mentally, so I’m very happy to overcome it,” said Sinner, who is chasing his seventh title this year.
Fifth-ranked Daniil Medvedev also won 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 against Matteo Arnaldi to book his place in the fourth round against 12th-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas or Alexander Muller.
The 28-year-old Medvedev was forced to work hard to level the match after a tough first set by the Italian.
In the deciding set, Medvedev’s experience and composure came to the fore as he secured a crucial break in the ninth game and held on to wrap up the match in 2 hours, 44 minutes.
Second-ranked Carlos Alcaraz, who won the China Open for the fourth title of the year on Wednesday, defeated Chinese player Wu Yibing 7-6 (5), 6-3.
published – October 08, 2024 03:31 am IST
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