TENNIS – Coco Gauff delivered a commanding 6-1 6-1 demolition of Karolina Muchova yesterday to book her place in the Miami Open final, her sixth WTA 1000 final.
The American world number four made a slow start as Muchova broke immediately to take the opening game, but that proved to be the Czech’s only moment of clarity.
Gauff responded with a break of her own to level and then reeled off the remaining games without dropping a single one, closing out the first set to love in ruthless fashion.
Muchova, 29, had been in fine form coming into the contest, having won the title in Doha earlier this season before defeating Victoria Mboko, in a rematch of that Doha final, in the Miami quarter-finals.
But a flurry of unforced errors undid her in the second set, with Gauff breaking three times to complete a dominant victory while extending her perfect head-to-head record to six wins against the Czech.
Meanwhile, world number two Jannik Sinner put on a dominant display as he beat home favourite Frances Tiafoe 6-2 6-2 to reach the men’s semi-finals.
Sinner was barely troubled, dropping nine points on serve before sealing the win in 71 minutes to reach the last four in Miami for the fourth time in his career, extending his record of consecutive sets won at Masters 1000 level to 30.