LONDON \u2014 Karolina Muchova ended\u00a0Coco Gauff\u2019s run\u00a0at\u00a0Wimbledon\u00a0in a drama-filled tiebreaker to reach the final on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Muchova won 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (10) to become the fourth Czech woman in the last six years to reach the championship match of the grass-court Grand Slam.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was such a big fight,\u201d Muchova said. \u201cIt was a roller coaster.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gauff wasted a match point in the tiebreaker when she dinked an attackable forehand into the net to follow a powerful first serve.<\/p>\n
Muchova then produced a lob winner to set up her first match point, which she lost when she slipped to the grass and a passing shot from Gauff sailed by her.<\/p>\n
But Muchova quickly set up another match point and produced a series of shots to the corners. Gauff, on the full run, reached the last ball but her forehand response landed in the net and Muchova covered her hands in disbelief.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re up and down in 10 seconds. You have a match point, then match point down. It\u2019s no time to think, but very nerve-wracking,\u201d Muchova said. \u201cI\u2019m really kind of shaking and trying to sink it in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier in the tiebreaker, Muchova produced\u00a0a diving forehand volley winner\u00a0at full stretch that brought back memories of the way three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker used to play. She ended up face down on the grass, her racket lying next to her, as the crowd roared.<\/p>\n
It will be the ninth-ranked Muchova\u2019s second Grand Slam final after losing to Iga Swiatek in the 2023 French Open championship match.<\/p>\n
Muchova could face another Czech player in Saturday\u2019s final, with Linda Noskova to play Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine in the other semifinal next on Centre Court.<\/p>\n
The other Czech women in the Wimbledon final recently were: Karolina Pliskova (runner-up in 2021); Marketa Vondrousova (champion in 2023); and Barbora Krejcikova (champion in 2024).<\/p>\n
While Muchova has been slowed by injuries to both wrists over the past two years, she has now reached the semifinals or better at all four Grand Slams.<\/p>\n
Gauff’s Wimbledon history<\/p>\n
For Gauff, it was still her most successful Wimbledon. Previously, the seventh-ranked American had gone only as far as the fourth round three times \u2013 including during her breakthrough run as a 15-year-old in 2019.<\/p>\n
Gauff had had won six of her seven previous matches against Muchova.<\/p>\n
But Muchova has been nearly unbeatable on grass this year and extended her record this season on the surface to 11-1 after a title in Bad Homburg, Germany. Her only loss on grass this year came against Madison Keys in the Berlin Open round of 16.<\/p>\n
Muchova beat Gauff for the first time in April on clay in Stuttgart, Germany.<\/p>\n
It was another hot day in London with the temperature soaring to 91 degrees Fahreinheit (33 Celsius), prompting spectators to fan themselves in the stands in an attempt to keep cool.<\/p>\n
Muchova appeared to be struggling physically as the match wore on, bending over in exhaustion after one long rally and holding her abdomen in apparent pain during the final game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m OK,\u201d Muchova said. \u201cI just was trying to catch a breath.\u201d<\/p>\n
Muchova said she took a photo of Centre Court when she came to practice on the famed lawn ahead of her first career match on the most revered court in tennis.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are so many of us tennis players and I don\u2019t think many of us get to play on this court,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a nice moment to experience all of this and this court is beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n
The men\u2019s semifinals on Friday feature top-ranked and defending champion\u00a0Jannik Sinner\u00a0against seven-time Wimbledon winner\u00a0Novak Djokovic\u00a0and French Open champion\u00a0Alexander Zverev\u00a0against British wild card\u00a0Arthur Fery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON \u2014 Karolina Muchova ended\u00a0Coco Gauff\u2019s run\u00a0at\u00a0Wimbledon\u00a0in a drama-filled tiebreaker to reach the final on Thursday. Muchova won…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":790949,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-790948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}