{"id":753425,"date":"2026-07-09T22:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T22:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/753425\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T22:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T22:35:09","slug":"karolina-muchova-ends-coco-gauffs-run-at-wimbledon-to-reach-the-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/753425\/","title":{"rendered":"Karolina Muchova ends Coco Gauff\u2019s run at Wimbledon to reach the final"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON (AP) \u2014 Coco Gauff<\/a> had just the shot she was looking for.<\/p>\n

Seven years after her breakthrough at Wimbledon<\/a>, the American player was on the verge of reaching her first final at the All England Club<\/a>.<\/p>\n

All she needed to do was execute what appeared to be a manageable put-away on her first match point.<\/p>\n

The thing is, it\u2019s never that simple in a Grand Slam semifinal, especially toward the end of a decisive super tiebreaker on Centre Court \u2014 the sport\u2019s most hallowed venue.<\/p>\n

Gauff fluffed a forehand drop-shot attempt into the net and her opponent Karolina Muchova went on to see out a drama-filled tiebreaker to win 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (10) on Thursday. <\/p>\n

On the match point, Gauff hit a well-placed serve down the T on the ad court and Muchova\u2019s weak forehand return bounced before the service line \u2014 right in Gauff\u2019s attack zone. But Muchova\u2019s shot had some topspin on it and kicked up higher than Gauff was anticipating.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bounce kind of caught me off guard,\u201d Gauff said. \u201cI just panicked a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the miss, Gauff ran her non-hitting hand over her face and practiced a full-swing forehand that perhaps she would have preferred in hindsight.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who don\u2019t watch tennis are going to be like, \u2019Why did you do that?\u201d Gauff said. \u201cAt the end of the day, that\u2019s the choice I made. Was it the right one in that moment? Maybe not. But then also, if I make it, everyone\u2019s going to say how clutch of a shot that was.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just tennis. You lose some points off margins.\u201d<\/p>\n

A \u2018roller coaster\u2019 for Muchova<\/p>\n

Muchova also lost a match point before she came out on top when Gauff hit a forehand into the net.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was such a big fight,\u201d Muchova said. \u201cIt was a roller coaster.\u201d<\/p>\n

Muchova will meet Linda Noskova in an all-Czech final on Saturday after Noskova beat Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-4, 6-4.<\/p>\n

Clearly flustered after her miss, Gauff called for a ball to serve again before she realized it was time to change ends since it was 9-9.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to think about it tonight,\u201d Gauff said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look at Roger (Federer, in the 2019 final) lost match points here, Jannik (Sinner) obviously at Roland Garros (in last year\u2019s final). Every great champion has this happen in their career,\u201d Gauff added. \u201cMaybe this is something I need to be on their level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tracy Austin suggested on the BBC that Gauff looked like \u201cshe changed her mind three times as to where to hit that ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Gauff said, \u201cHonestly, I didn\u2019t change my mind too much. I feel like if I had to do it over, I probably would have gone for a slice forehand down the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a learning experience,\u201d Gauff added. \u201cI know I can do better and improve on that, and going with a higher-margin shot in a pressure moment, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diving like Boris Becker<\/p>\n

On the point after Gauff\u2019s miss, Muchova 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 a diving forehand volley winner<\/a> at 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

There will be a third Czech champion in four years after Marketa Vondrousova<\/a> in 2023 and Barbora Krejcikova<\/a> in 2024.<\/p>\n

Gauff\u2019s 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 as a 15-year-old in 2019 in her Grand Slam debut.<\/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

The men\u2019s semifinals on Friday feature top-ranked and defending champion Jannik Sinner<\/a> against seven-time Wimbledon winner Novak Djokovic<\/a> and French Open champion Alexander Zverev<\/a> against British wild card Arthur Fery<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mixed doubles<\/p>\n

In the mixed doubles final, second-seeded Marcelo Arevalo and Jelena Ostapenko beat Marc Polmans and Storm Hunter 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.<\/p>\n

__<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Mattias Kar\u00e9n contributed to this report. <\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP tennis: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/tennis<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON (AP) \u2014 Coco Gauff had just the shot she was looking for. Seven years after her breakthrough…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":753426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[12082,198194,9660,2308,5113,432,74827,51733,78304,1150,12764,323017,323016,32894,74010,433,99,93804,428,6510,96,2467],"class_list":["post-753425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-alexander-zverev","tag-arthur-fery","tag-barbora-krejcikova","tag-boris-becker","tag-coco-gauff","tag-jannik-sinner","tag-jelena-ostapenko","tag-karolina-muchova","tag-linda-noskova","tag-london","tag-madison-keys","tag-marc-polmans","tag-marcelo-arevalo","tag-marketa-vondrousova","tag-marta-kostyuk","tag-novak-djokovic","tag-sports","tag-storm-hunter","tag-tennis","tag-tracy-austin","tag-wimbledon","tag-wimbledon-championships"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753425","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=753425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/753426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=753425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=753425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=753425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}