Coco Gauff Comes Back Strong To Beat Badosa Set For Final With Muchova.
BY:
OSABUOHIEN IMUETINYANOSA
Coco Gauff put up a show with a powerful self motivational resilience to fight from a set down to beat Spain’s Paula Badosa 4-6 6-4 6-2 at the China Open in Beijing on Saturday and set up a final with Czech Karolina Muchova. Former U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff fought back creating a well deserving lead into the finals.
Early in the match coco had tough time with her service, having double faults and a weaker second serve. The world number six Gauff early in the match suffered several unrest as Badosa won 75% of her second return points in the set, which almost concluded a given winner from the pace she maintained.
Badosa with strong arms broke to go 3-2 up, unfortunately Gauff’s unprecedented resilience would not allow as she bounced back, making it 4-4 after a restless marathon game where Badosa saved 10 break points, still the tough and hard stamina of Gauff ultimately denied world number 19.
Badosa won back the lead with a quick break in the very next game and held her own serve to secure the set. It was quite interesting seeing how passionate both parties desires the finals.
Yet again world number 19 took the lead in the first game of the second set and almost built a 4-1 lead, but resilient Gauff saved four break points to hold.
Gauff strong and powerful drive for victory would not allow another game in the set as she seized the momentum, landing more precise shots across the court, denied Badosa unabling her to attain a single point as Gauff broke her in the last game with power, focus and precision.
In the third set, she exhausted her opponent. The 20-year-old broke twice to comfortably maintain a 4-1 lead, hitting two aces as her powerful forehands eluded an increasingly exhausted Badosa who saw couldn’t maintain resistance anymore.
With another break Gauff sealed took her victory.
“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.”
49th-ranked Muchova in only her seventh tournament back after suffering a wrist injury at the 2023 U.S. Open, continues to put on impressive performances.
The Finals now set between world number 6 and world number 49.
