Karolina Muchova +19 in WTA Rankings as Qinwen Zheng suffers WTA Finals qualification blow
Karolina Muchova continued her surge up the WTA Rankings after she defeated Qinwen Zheng to reach the China Open final.
The talented Czech star produced a superb display to down Chinese home favourite Zheng 6-3, 6-4 in the last four in Beijing.
A single break in each set was enough for Muchova, who saved the only break point she faced in a dominant display on serve.
Muchova landed 68% of her first serves, won a stellar 79% of the points behind her first delivery, while her second serve point win rate was an equally excellent 61%.
“Tough battle out there today,” Muchova said in a post-match interview. “I was happy I was able to hold my serve during the whole match. That helped a lot. Glad that I was able to close it in two sets today.”
The 28-year-old dropped just a single set in the six matches she won en route to the final of the WTA 1000 event.
Muchova’s win over Zheng, the world No 7, was her second successive victory against a top 10 opponent after her stunning triumph over second-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in the last eight.
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“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 her semi-final win.
Having been ranked 49th in the world prior to the tournament, Muchova has made a 19-spot leap to 30th in the live WTA Rankings after reaching the final. The Czech, who has been ranked as high as eighth, will climb to 22nd if she secures the title.
Zheng could have overtaken Emma Navarro in the WTA Finals Race, but she remains in eighth position after her last four exit.
While the top eight players will qualify for Riyadh, Zheng is effectively in ninth place because Barbora Krejcikova — who is currently 12th in the Race — only needs to finish in the top 20 to qualify as she won the Wimbledon title.
The 21-year-old Chinese star will, therefore, likely need to finish in the top seven of the Race to qualify. She is only 98 points adrift of Navarro in seventh.
Muchova will take on world No 6 and 2023 US Open champion Coco Gauff in the Beijing final as she aims to win the biggest title of her career.
The 28-year-old won her only title to date at the 2019 Korea Open, while she has lost in four WTA singles finals — including at the French Open and the Cincinnati Open.
Muchova’s success in Beijing continues her impressive form since her return to the tour in June following a nine-month absence due to a wrist injury that required surgery. She was a finalist in Palermo in July and a semi-finalist at the US Open last month.
“I said it in the past, I didn’t know how this year is going to look like, if I will play, if I will not play, what my level is going to be,” Muchova admitted. “Making a final here, it’s just so nice. Such a nice feeling.”
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