The variety of Czech games Karolina Muchova He eliminated the Belarusian on Saturday Aryna Sabalenka, world number two, allowing her to win 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the final of the WTA 1,000 in Cincinnatiwhere they will face the American Coco Gauff.
Muchova, a finalist this year at Roland Garros, will compete this Sunday at the Cincinnati headquarters for the second title of her career, after Seoul 2019.
The Czech player, number 17 in the world ranking, reaffirmed the success achieved this year against Sabalenka in the semifinals of Roland Garros, where he would lose in the final against the Polish Iga Swiatek.
If on that occasion Muchova won 7-5 in the third set after three hours and thirteen of the battle, this time in Cincinnati it took two hours and 37 minutes to knock down Sabalenka.
The Minsk native paid for Muchova’s varied play and constant change of pace, which ended up driving her crazy as she kept trying to hit with maximum force.
The Cincinnati tournament continues to haunt him, where he was a semifinalist in 2018 and in 2022.
CONTROVERSY ON THE ORDER OF PLAY
Sabalenka did not hide her discomfort with the organization of the tournament due to the order of play, which gave her several hours of rest between her quarterfinal and semifinal matches.
“The only thing that worries me is the order of play. Everyone complains about the order of play in Montreal. It’s the same here. I’m disappointed. Why did they decide that Alcaraz should play at 3:00 pm? It’s understandable it’s Alcaraz and everyone wants to see him play. They put their game at 6:00 pm I just played at 7:00 pm and what time, nine?”Sabalenka assured in his press conference on Friday.
“I have to play one morning (on Saturday), I thought I would play at least 3:00 pm That’s all that worries me”, graduate
He started in the best way, escaping 4-1 on the scoreboard in the first set, but he failed to continue the good start. Muchova has chained five games in a row and is a recovering sensation.
He lost that set in a tiebreaker, four, but his tennis was growing. And it showed later, when the Czech dominated the match, playing a lot of cut balls to make Sabalenka’s job difficult.
She did not concede any break points in the second and third sets, while Sabalenka was always on the ropes to keep her turns. Aggressive in the rest, Muchova leveled the game at 6-3 and barely contested the third, winning 6-2 by the Czech.
GAUFF, EIGHTH VICTORY
His rival in the final, Gauff, proved himself by defeating the Polish Iga Swiatek (n.1) for the first time, after seven defeats out of seven.
Gauff, 19, prevailed in a two-hour and fifty-minute battle against Swiatek, an opponent who has beaten him twice this year and also denied him the title at Roland Garros in 2022.
The young American, number seven in the world ranking, will fight for the third title of his season, after winning Auckland and Washington, two weeks ago. She became the second tennis player under the age of twenty to reach that far in a WTA 1,000 after Belarusian Viktoria Azarenka.
Swiatek, who has been champion in Doha, Stuttgart, Roland Garros and Warsaw this season, bowed out in the semifinals for the second consecutive tournament, after last week in Montreal against another American, Jessica Pegula.
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Source: La Verdad
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