{"id":591376,"date":"2026-04-18T08:20:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T08:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/591376\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T08:20:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T08:20:15","slug":"karolina-muchova-beats-coco-gauff-to-end-six-match-losing-streak-against-the-american","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/591376\/","title":{"rendered":"Karol\u00edna Muchov\u00e1 beats Coco Gauff to end six-match losing streak against the American"},"content":{"rendered":"

After two hours and 24 minutes of creative shot-making, characteristically impressive defense and some clutch serving for good measure, Karolina Muchov\u00e1<\/a> earned her first win against Coco Gauff<\/a> 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 Friday, on the Stuttgart Tennis Grand Prix\u2019s indoor red clay.<\/p>\n

With the win in Germany, Muchov\u00e1 broke a streak of six consecutive losses to Gauff, including a 6-1, 6-1 loss at the Miami Open just over three weeks ago. Muchov\u00e1 had only won one set in those six matches, but with that record stacked against her, the Czech put history out of her mind ahead of Friday\u2019s contest.<\/p>\n

After all, the pair had never met on her favorite surface.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s obviously one of the best athletes, one of the best tennis players. \u2026 So I\u2019m just really glad I pulled out the first win against Coco. I\u2019m just so happy that I finally beat her,\u201d Muchov\u00e1 said during her on-court interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was actually our first match on a clay court, so on the clay we were 0-0 in our matches. I tried to keep it positive and take advantage of this surface, play my game and then it was really, again, as I said in the match before, it\u2019s a thin line. It\u2019s just so tough to play against these top players. You just never know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Muchov\u00e1 was the more consistent of the two Friday, and advances to face Elina Svitolina in the semifinals, while Gauff exited the WTA 500 tournament at the quarterfinal stage for the third year in a row.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Coco Gauff exited Stuttgart at the quarterfinal stage for the third year in a row. (Tom Weller \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

A low-energy first set put Gauff in an early deficit before she regrouped and upped her level for the second. Asking often for more noise from Gavin MacMillan and Jean-Christophe Faurel in her coaching box, Gauff steadied her serve and started accelerating through her forehand, seeming to discombobulate Muchov\u00e1.<\/p>\n

The American\u2019s previous wins have been built on hitting her forehand into Muchov\u00e1\u2019s backhand with heavy spin, trying to create a backhand-to-backhand rally in her favor. Her foot speed also blunts so much of Muchov\u00e1\u2019s touch and ability to find the corners of the court.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, given both Gauff and Muchov\u00e1\u2019s patience and defensive abilities, the pair produced tense, rollercoaster points throughout the match. The highlight was a marathon rally at 2-2 in the second set won by Gauff that left Muchov\u00e1 doubled over, gasping for air. It was the start of a 12-minute game that gave Gauff her first break in the second set \u2014 and kicked off a run of four straight games won by the returner.<\/p>\n

Gauff missed a forehand wide on Muchov\u00e1\u2019s serve at 5-5, 30-40, but Muchov\u00e1 gave her a second chance when a wonky forehand sailed out and Gauff didn\u2019t waste the gift. She cracked a return to force an error from Muchov\u00e1 and set herself up to take the second set.<\/p>\n

But it was Muchov\u00e1 who was the more consistent \u2014 and consistently tenacious \u2014 player as the match wore on. The Czech wizard broke for a 4-2 lead in the third set, then saved three break points to hold for 5-2. After Gauff won her serve at love to put the pressure back on, Muchov\u00e1 closed the match out with smart serving, raising her arms to the air when a Gauff backhand return floated long.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After two hours and 24 minutes of creative shot-making, characteristically impressive defense and some clutch serving for good…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":["post-591376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}