The last two players standing at the 2024 China Open are Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova and one will leave Beijing with a trophy.
The American player hasn't been in the best form leading up to the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing. In China, she beat a few players before staging an impressive comeback win over Paula Badosa.
Her talent has been carrying her far, but she will need more at times. Muchova is a player against whom she will need a bit more. The Czech player has been superb so far at the event, beating two amazing players back-to-back.
She first outplayed Aryna Sabalenka in three sets, following that up with a win over Qinwen Zheng as well. Those two are some of the best players in the world, and her level was quite impressive against both.
She is enjoying the conditions in Beijing as they allow her to play with all of her tricks. She can serve and volley, shorten the points with drop shots, and just win points in many ways. Plenty of players struggle with that, but Gauff has answers.
Looking at the matches they played so far, it becomes clear that Gauff is uniquely equipped to handle most of what Muchova can send her way. They played two matches so far and both of those were won by Gauff and without too many issues.
She's just very good at countering Muchova. The Czech player can hit well from the baseline but prefers to mix it up often. If she uses a drop shot, Gauff can use her speed to counter that.
If she goes for serve and volley, then Gauff's athleticism also proves tough to overcome. Even in rallies, Muchova can struggle if the 20-year-old handles herself well from the baseline.
The serve can be negative simply because Gauff is not a huge risk taker with a return. She mostly keeps the ball in play, so there isn't much that she can exploit. One thing that saved the American so far in their matchups was the serve, as she served well both times.
Also, the conditions were different in each of their matches, and they will be different also for this meeting, which Muchova noted after setting up the final.
"Yeah, if I look back, I mean, those matches, honestly we played in really tough conditions. It was very hot, very humid. It was very physical. 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."
"It's very different here. Very different conditions to US Open and Cincinnati. I'll try to take advantage of that. Yeah, she's, again, an amazing athlete, such a great player. It's the finals, so I wouldn't expect anything less than that. She's just great."
| Coco Gauff | Karolina Muchova | |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | H2H | 0 |
| 6 | Rank | 49 |
| 20 | Age | 28 |
| 44-14 | 2024 W/L | 18-4 |
| 219-96 | Career W/L | 297-141 |
The match will be mostly on Muchova's racket because she will have to find a way to win if she wants to win the matchup. She certainly learned a few things from their matches so far, having lost both.
At the same time, Gauff's athleticism and experience with big finals might prove to be crucial, especially after bringing fresh air into her team.
Prediction: Coco Gauff to win in three sets.