Karolina Muchova ousted home hero Qinwen Zheng in the second semi-final at the 2024 China Open to book a spot in the final.
This was the more interesting semi-final for the native Chinese crowd because there was a Chinese player involved. The stands were packed for most of Zheng's matches at the WTA 1000 event, and this was no exception.
Even so, Muchova doesn't mind playing in hostile conditions. She was a fairly young player when she bested Ashleigh Barty a couple of years ago at the Australian Open in very hostile conditions, so she's always had that quality of beating home favorites.
She's generally always been a quality player, even though severely hampered by multiple injuries, even this year. Both of these players have played extremely well at the event, so it was a worthy semi-final.
Muchova likely impressed more because her level was more stable. Zheng can be streaky, and while superbly strong when playing well, she has her moments when things don't go that well.
Her serve is the best example. At times, it's unplayable, but at other times, it causes her all sorts of issues. That was evident in her previous match against Mirra Andreeva, who nearly beat her in the quarter-final.
Muchova nearly lost her quarter-final as well, as she had to beat Aryna Sabalenka, so both came into this match after stellar comebacks in the previous round.
In this match, Zheng served very well because she hit a high percentage of first serves and kept the double faults at bay. Muchova did as well, so it was a well-contested match.
The crucial difference came when it came to break chances because Muchova saved the only one she faced in the first set while Zheng didn't. The break she got was enough for Muchova to win the opening set 6-3.
Zheng started to struggle with serving issues in the second set, as she didn't serve as well as she did in the first one, and quickly, Muchova was able to get to break chances.
She got three consecutive in the third game of the set and used the first one. Zheng made three double faults in that game. While the Chinese player never lacks belief in her ability to win a match, it seemed like she didn't have answers for Muchova, who was too solid.
Due to the inconsistency, the serve was a big issue for her. Still, the Chinese player served better than expected, but it was still not good enough. Muchova was able to win the match 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the final of the 2024 China Open.
It's yet another chance for her to win a WTA 1000 trophy, even though the last time she had a chance to do so was in Cincinnati last year when she lost to Coco Gauff. She will face the same player this time around, and after the match, it was clear that she didn't want to think about what happened the last time.
"I honestly wasn't even thinking about tomorrow's match yet (smiling). Obviously, will try to recover as best as possible tonight and tomorrow morning. Just to bring the best game."
"We played a year ago, so we are different players today and tomorrow. I'll just try to play my best and challenge her and hope for the best result tomorrow."
0 Comments