Wimbledon: Noskova sets up all-Czech final with Muchova

London, July 9 (IANS) Linda Noskova overcame Marta Kostyuk in her first appearance in the last four at Wimbledon, setting up a summit clash with Karolina Muchova of Czechia, who advanced to her second career Grand Slam singles final in dramatic fashion, saving a match point to outlast American Coco Gauff in a thrilling three-setter in London on Thursday.

In the two matches played on the Centre Court, Nishkova made it to her maiden final with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Marta Kostyuk, while Muchova won the semifinal against Gauff 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(10) in dramatic fashion as the match ended in a tie-breaker.

At 20, Noskova becomes the youngest women’s finalist since 2014, and for the third time in the last four years, the Venus Rosewater Dish will be raised by Czech hands.

Saturday’s clash will be the first major final between two women from the same country at Wimbledon in nearly a decade, since the Williams sisters played each other in the 2017 final.

“It’s a very special moment,” Muchova said in her post-match press conference. “It’s a great achievement. This is one of the biggest tournaments that we have with all the, again, I’ll repeat myself, history; so many legends were playing here as well. To just get to play on the Centre Court, it was so nice. [I’m[ just incredibly glad and happy that it happened and that I have a chance to play another final.”

After losing a 6-3 lead earlier in the tiebreak, Muchova saved a match point at 9-8 before coming through to beat Gauff for a second time this year, having lost their first six head-to-head meetings.

Gauff delivered a poor first set and made a total of 20 unforced errors on her shaky forehand. But the double Grand Slam champion also won 32 out of 45 net points (71 per cent) with superb volleying and showed the fight of a champion.

The world No.7 improved as the contest went on, but ultimately lost out to 29-year-old Muchova, making her Centre Court debut. The Czech, who reached the 2023 Roland-Garros final on the clay, is now 11-1 on grass this season after winning the title in Bad Homburg. She made only 56 per cent of first serves but triumphed with her crisp groundstrokes, which relentlessly targeted the Gauff forehand.

Gauff’s first two break points summed up the opening set. On the first, Muchova played a delicious backhand drop shot and followed in to convert a forehand volley winner. Even the Americans joined the applause. On the second, Muchova framed a forehand return over the baseline. The Czech broke twice and took her first set point with an ace.

The match flipped in the second set as Gauff finally found her rhythm. Varying play with drop shots and dashes to the net, the American took a ninth break point when she chased down a drop shot and hit a backhand cross-court winner to lead 3-1. She sealed her first set point after one hour and 14 minutes when Muchova’s backhand service return sailed over the baseline.

–IANS

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