Cincinnati Masters: Gauff stuns Swiatek, advances to final

Cincinnati: American young sensation Coco Gauff advanced to her first WTA 1000 final after upsetting world No.1 Iga Swiatek 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-4 in a thrilling three-set semifinal at Cincinnati Masters.

Saturday’s win was Gauff’s first over Swiatek, having lost their seven prior meetings. Their last meeting came at Roland Garros, where Gauff played one of her best matches against the World No.1 only to lose 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.

The American become the seventh teenager to make a WTA 1000 final, joining Victoria Azarenka, Caroline Wozniacki, Belinda Bencic, Jelena Ostapenko, Bianca Andreescu and Swiatek.

In Sunday’s final, Gauff will face French Open finalist Czech player Karolina Muchova, who came from behind to upset No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals.

In a rematch of the pair’s Roland Garros semifinal, which Muchova saved match points to win in June after trailing 5-2 in the third set, the Czech was a 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-2 winner over second-seeded Sabalenka to advance to her first WTA 1000 final.

As a result of the 2-hour, 37-minute win, the Roland Garros finalist is also projected to rise into the Top 10 of the WTA rankings for the first time, no matter her result against Gauff.

Notably, Gauff and Muchova have never played. This will be the first WTA 1000 final between two players in their first hard-court WTA 1000 final in five years since Aryna Sabalenka beat Anett Kontaveit in Wuhan in 2018.