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Coco Gauff defeated Karolina Muchova in straight sets to win the China Open on Sunday for her second title of the year and eighth overall.
The 20-year-old American and last year’s US Open winner stormed to victory in Beijing with 6:1, 6:3 in one hour and 16 minutes.
After a few disappointing months by her standards, in which she gave up her New York Championship in the round of 16, Gauff added the China Open to her triumph in Auckland in January.
Sixth-placed Gauff, who is under a new coaching team in the Chinese capital after parting ways with Brad Gilbert last month, wiped away tears at the end.
It proved to be a game too far for Muchova, who at 49 was the world’s lowest-ranked finalist in the history of the prestigious WTA 1000 tournament.
Gauff got off to a quick start, breaking the Czech to a 2-0 lead in the first set and then holding her own serve without conceding a point.
The young American was leading 3-0 with just under 10 minutes of play.
The 28-year-old Muchova sent an ace to get on the board, but Gauff was in the mood and her serve – her biggest problem of late – was poor.
Gauff had three break points in the sixth game and turned the first round into a 5-1 lead against a completely shocked Muchova.
Gauff shook off her third ace of the game, giving her two set points.
Her serve wavered again for a moment, but with her third set point she took the first set in 29 minutes.
Muchova, seeking only the second title of her career, saw off top seed Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals and then beat Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen.
Last year’s French Open finalist bounced back at the start of the second set to take a 2-0 lead, only for Gauff to hit back immediately en route to a comfortable victory.
pst/pbt
