2024 Beijing Women’s SF: Muchova Stuns Sabalenka, Will Face Zheng; Gauff v Badosa

There will be a new Beijing champion come Sunday. The WTA 1000 event in China will wrap up this weekend with the semifinals on Saturday and then the Sunday finale.

Thursday saw Coco Gauff and Paula Badosa advance to the last four. Badosa leads 3-2 but Gauff won the last won this year in Rome.

“She’s done so many things at a young age and I really respect her so much,” Badosa said of facing Gauff. “That’s going to be a very tactical match. Who will play the important points better, who will serve better? These are the matches that I want to play.”

Friday, Qinwen Zheng and Karolina Muchova rounded out the semifinal round. Zheng rallied from a set down and 4-2 in the the third down to defeat teen Mirra Andreeva 5-7, 6-0, 6-4.

The gold medalist is into her first Beijing Open semifinal.

“I’m just happy to be in the semifinal,” Zheng said to the WTA. “Today in the match, there were lot of up and downs. I’m just happy they were there supporting me. I feel if it’s not in China Open, this match could be more trickier than that.”

The Chinese star will take on Muchova who stunned top seed and tournament favorite Aryna Sabalenka 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-4. Sabalenka, the US Open champion, had won her last 15 matches. Muchova, who lost in the US Open semifinals, held a match point a few years ago at the French Open, and this time took the next step winning the last four games from 4-2 down in the third.

“Very tough match,” Muchova said. “Basically what I expected. She’s one of the best players playing her best tennis these days. You really have to be ready to attack, because if you slice slow ball or something she’s really going to smash you.

“Second set I fell a little short. I felt a little down and she was just smashing it. I just tried to get through the second set, tried to regroup. Third set, I was just trying to fight for every ball. We’ve had some close battles, so I was trying to put every ball over the net and it was worth it in the end.”

“I played her twice last year, and it’s definitely been a year of improvement.”

Zheng just beat Muchova in July ahead of the Olympics.

“Tough battle,” Muchova said of Zheng. “She’s serving really well, moving really well. It’s semifinals, you’re not going to get an easy match.”

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