Karolina Muchova ends Coco Gauff’s run at Wimbledon in drama-filled tiebreaker to reach the final

LONDON (AP) — Karolina Muchova ended Coco Gauff’s run at Wimbledon in a drama-filled tiebreaker to reach the final on Thursday.

Muchova won 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (10) to become the fourth Czech woman in the last six years to reach the championship match of the grass-court Grand Slam.

Gauff wasted a match point in the tiebreaker when she dinked an attackable forehand into the net to follow a powerful first serve.

Muchova then produced a lob winner to set up her first match point, which she lost when she slipped to the grass and a passing shot from Gauff sailed by her.

But Muchova quickly set up another match point and produced a shot to the corner. Gauff reached the ball but her forehand response landed in the net and Muchova covered her hands in disbelief.

It will be the ninth-ranked Muchova’s second Grand Slam final after losing to Iga Swiatek in the 2023 French Open championship match.

Muchova could face another Czech player in Saturday’s final, with Linda Noskova to play Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine in the other semifinal next on Centre Court.

The other Czech women in the Wimbledon final recently were: Karolina Pliskova (runner-up in 2021); Marketa Vondrousova (champion in 2023); and Barbora Krejcikova (champion in 2024).

For Gauff, it was still her most successful Wimbledon. Previously, the seventh-ranked American had gone only as far as the fourth round three times – including during her breakthrough run as a 15-year-old in 2019.