Google News
Coco Gauff’s the 2023 Cincinnati Open titlist. The seventh seed comprehensively came through against Karolina Muchova, 6-3, 6-4. The match finished was short of two hours by just four minutes. Both players didn’t do all too well on their second serve.
Both won around 38% of their second-serve points. However, Gauff fared quite well when it came to winning first-serve points. Of the 48 points she put in on her first serves, she won 34. She also won 21 of 46 points played on return on Muchova’s first serve.
Gauff saved six of the nine break points she faced but converted five of eight break points on her opponent’s serve. In the second set, Muchova broke Gauff in the eighth game when the 19-year-old was trying to serve for the match.
Two games later, Gauff went on to serve out the match on the second chance she got.
Cincinnati Open: What's next for Coco Gauff, Karolina Muchova?
After the win, Gauff shared, “I'm really happy with how I was able to manage this week.
I got a huge win yesterday, a big one today. Karolina, she's not an easy player. It's really good to see her back at the top. I think she's one of the most talented players on tour”. On her part, Muchova said that fatigue, too, had played a part in restricting her from playing the way she would’ve wanted to in the final.
In all the previous rounds, the French Open runner-up had needed the deciding set to help her move into the following rounds. She said, “I was a little tired coming into the match. I knew I have to play fast today, not be in the rallies, because it's been many three-setters here for me, long matches, tough matches.
To play day after day and not have the day off, it's very physical. In that, I was the worse one today”. Meanwhile, for both players there was a lot of positives for both Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova after the Cincinnati Open.
While for Gauff this was a career-first WTA 1000 crown, Muchova, too, accomplished a career-first of her own. She made a breakthrough into the top-10 of the WTA rankings at the age of 26. Photo Credit: Bleacher Report Twitter