Beijing | This will be an all Gauff vs Muchova WTA 1000 China Open final.

Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova will compete for glory at Sunday’s final of WTA 1000 China Open in Beijing after defeating Paula Badosa and Zheng Qinwen respectively in their semi-final matches on Friday and Saturday respectively. Our performance against each other last year may differ significantly between today and tomorrow as players. Tomorrow I just want to play my best and challenge her as best as I can and hope for the best result possible. Like I’ve stated previously, this year was unpredictable in terms of my tennis involvement – whether I would play at all and what my level would be; making a final here has been such an amazing feeling of achievement and I cannot thank all involved enough! Gauff commented afterward: “I feel I played in an appropriate manner throughout, aside from some double faults; apart from those, however, I was playing my usual style; just missing occasionally due to her outstanding level of play.” “All I was focused on doing was getting on the scoreboard, collecting points and staying present for my games. On Saturday morning in front of Chinese No 1 Zheng Qinwen’s home crowd in China, Karolina Muchova defeated Zheng in straight sets en route to reaching her first final of 2018. Muchova has made an incredible comeback from injury, winning her two Top 10 victories this week against 5th seeded Zheng and then Aryna Sabalenka during Friday quarter-final play – breaking Sabalenka’s 15 match winning streak along the way! She will meet Muchova again next weekend as she challenges Zheng for her spot at Grand Slam final. “Today was an intense battle,” Muchova noted afterward, “but I am proud that I managed to maintain my serve throughout. This played an invaluable role, helping me take down both sets easily today.” Zheng Qinwen experienced pain with her wrist throughout their second semi-final against Karolina Muchova(c Jade Gao/AFP via Getty Images), thus setting up an identical final to last summer when Gauff defeated Muchova 6-3 6-4 for her inaugural Beijing title last summer and again at US Open 2023 semis (6-4 7-5), eventually going on to capture their inaugural Grand Slam crown as American players! “Since our last meeting a year ago, the two players have changed significantly and I plan to play my best and challenge her and hope for an optimal result tomorrow,” Muchova noted. “My aim will be to play with as much gusto and hope for the best result possible tomorrow.” After her US Open semi-final run in 2023, Muchova missed 10 months due to injury before eventually having wrist surgery in February 2024, though most of her form remained consistent since returning in June. Muchova played seven events since returning and achieved strong results including defeating Zheng in Palermo for second place and making another US Open semifinal – reaching twice. Now back into WTA 1000 finals Muchova says making final here “is just so nice, such an exciting feeling”.