Former US Open champion Coco Gauff will face the Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova in the final of the China Open on Sunday. Gauff fought back from a set down to beat Spain’s Paula Badosa 4-6, 6-4 and 6-2.

Badosa took the first set and braking in the first game of the second set, almost building a 4-1 lead, but Gauff saved four break points.

Gauff never showed signs of giving up and Badosa could not win a single point as Gauff broke her in the last game.  Gauff (20) broke twice in the third set to build a 4-1 lead, hitting two aces and ultimately sealed victory with another break.

‘I just tried to stay focused’

“It was just a tough match. I just tried to stay focused. Mentally I tried to reset. I got down a couple of times but I tried to bounce back,” Gauff said in her post-match interview. “I had tough opponents the whole tournament. Happy to be in the final.”

In the other semi-final, another Czech contestant broke Chinese hearts as Karolina Muchova (28) defeated home favourite Zheng Qinwen 6-3 and 6-4. The world number 49 needed an hour and 47 minutes of play to topple Zheng, the reigning Olympic gold medalist.

It is Muchova’s second straight top-10 win this week. She snapped the number one seed Aryna Sabalenka’s 15-match winning streak in the quarterfinals. 

“I’m just happy I was able to perform well against these big players and put up my game and that I could see that, yeah, I can face them, I can beat them," Muchova said after the match.

OFM Sport/Ilse Smalberger dg