“I need to play against the best,” Karolina Muchova excited about facing Coco Gauff in the semifinals of the United Cup
Karolina Muchova will face Coco Gauff for the fourth time at the United Cup, as the latter holds a comfortable 3-0 head-to-head record.
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Karolina Muchova, Coco Gauff (Images via X)
Karolina Muchova has been the frontliner for the Czech Republic in their bid to win the United Cup in Perth. The 2023 French Open finalist will now face Team USA star Coco Gauff in the semifinals of the tournament. Muchova believes the tie is going to be a tough test but derives positives from the meeting.
Muchova showed class on Friday (January 3), as she defeated Italy’s Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. Her fellow teammate Tomas Machac then completed the job by defeating Flavio Cobolli in straight sets to secure a 6-1, 6-2 victory that eventually helped them secure an aggregate 2-1 win over the Czech Republic.
However, Gauff powered Team USA to the semifinals on Thursday (January 2). The American star defeated China’s Zhang Shuai 7-6(4), 6-2 before Taylor Fritz completed the rout with a straight sets victory over Zhang Zhizhen. The United Cup will now experience a matchup between Gauff and Muchova.
Both players are in good form heading into the match, with Team USA hoping to win the tournament after two years. But Muchova sees the tie as a positive step to her game.
I take it very positively. It’s so good, especially before Melbourne is going to come, to have these tough matches. I’m playing, I’d say, almost top-10 players. And as you mentioned, I didn’t play matches for two months or something like that, so I need to play them, to play the best players, to see where is my game, where is their game, and then learn from even the wins and the loss, as well, and just try to get back to where I was playing end of last year and even better.
Karolina Muchova said after her win
Gauff and Muchova have had a flawless run at the United Cup. However, Gauff has a perfect 3-0 record against Muchova, with the American winning their last meeting in straight sets at the China Open in October.
Karolina Muchova says she doesn’t want to think about her match against Coco Gauff despite the American being a tough opponent
Karolina Muchova has been the leader of the Czech Republic team at the United Cup. The 28-year-old and Tomas Machac have been helping the team secure victories while they struggle in the doubles. But, going forward they will have a tough job against Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz.
During the aforementioned press conference, Muchova revealed that she’s not really thinking about the match, but rather how they can get enough rest to be able to compete against Team USA on Saturday (January 4).
I don’t know. I don’t want to talk for Tomas, but I’m not really thinking about tomorrow yet. Yeah, I guess we know it’s a really tough opponent. They are both amazing athletes. So I think for us, the most important is to recover as quick as possible and just get ready for tomorrow.
Karolina Muchova said
The Czech and the US teams are in good form at the moment. But, the tie might come down to the doubles match in the best-of-three series.
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Victor Okechukwu
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