Coco Gauff bests Karolina Muchova in Cincinnati to win first WTA 1000 title
Aug 21, 2023
Cincinnati [US], August 21 : The World No.6 Coco Gauff overpowered No.17 Karolina Muchova 6-3, 6-4 in the final to clinch the Cincinnati Masters title with a straight sets victory, winning her second hard-court title of the summer and third of the season.
Having won Auckland in January and Washington D.C. two weeks ago, Gauff is now the first teenager to win three titles in a season since Bianca Andreescu in 2019.
"I'm really happy with how I was able to manage this week. I got a huge win yesterday, a big one today. Karolina, she's not an easy player. It's really good to see her back at the top. I think she's one of the most talented players on tour," WTA quoted Gauff as saying.
In their first career meeting, Gauff overcame a sluggish start to hold off Muchova's attacking net game to improve to 5-1 in the WTA Tour finals. With consistent work from the baseline, Gauff limited Muchova to four winners and 13 unforced errors in the first set.
Nonetheless, Muchova's complete fighting abilities were on display down the stretch. Muchova saved three match points to break and reduce the gap after Gauff established a double-break advantage to serve out the win at 5-2. She then held serve from a 0-30 deficit, forcing Gauff to close the match.
"Today I really won it off of breaking serve, to be honest. I wasn't really serving as good as I did against Iga. I don't know if it was nerves. I wasn't that nervous, to be honest. Also a combination of the long match yesterday. I wasn't serving as well," Gauff said.
"I think that's what makes a champion, is how you're doing on the days you aren't feeling so great. I'm glad I was able to push through," the American
This time the American did not falter as Gauff held at love to seal her dominant week after 1 hour and 56 minutes.
"I was a little tired coming into the match. I knew I have to play fast today, not be in the rallies because it's been many three-setters here for me, long matches, tough matches. To play day after day and not have the day off, it's very physical. In that, I was the worse one today," Muchova said.
"It's always a thing that is in your mind when you play tennis, to make it to Top 10. It's happening for me tomorrow, so that's really nice result," Muchova added.
