There will be two first-time Wimbledon finalists in the women’s tournament, as semifinal Thursday begins with Coco Gauff vs. Karolina Muchova before Marta Kostyuk battles Linda Noskova.
Gauff and Muchova may have never advanced this far at the All-England Club, but it is a matchup that we have seen many times over the years. This marks their eighth meeting, with Gauff dominating the head-to-head series 6-1. The good news for Muchova is that she finally got over the hump in their most recent encounter, prevailing 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 this spring on the red clay of Stuttgart.
Grass should give Muchova even more of an advantage. The Czech was already a two-time Wimbledon quarterfinalist prior to this fortnight and she is 10-1 on grass this summer with a title in Bad Homburg. Muchova has dropped just one set through five rounds and she is coming off an impressive 7-6(4), 6-4 victory over an in-form Naomi Osaka on Tuesday.
Gauff, having never previously advanced past round four at the All-England Club, had to work extremely hard to reach the semis. Her last four matches have all required a final set, including a third-set tiebreaker against Solana Sierra in round two. The struggle is real for the seventh-ranked American on grass, as it has been throughout her career. If Gauff wins on Thursday, Saturday would be her first WTA grass-court final at any level.
It is simply tougher on grass for Gauff to make up for her service deficiencies. The 22-year-old has double-faulted 29 times (21 more than Muchova) through five rounds at Wimbledon and has been broken 12 times (seven more than Muchova). Unless those numbers change, Muchova should have the edge.
Pick: Muchova in 3
Not sure what Karo will have left on Saturday.
enough
Let’s not speculate, hopefully she is close to 100%. Regardless this is still a very tough match Noskov’s serve and forehand are serious weapons, she has looked untouchable at times. Losing only 2 service games in last 3 wins. These are stats that we don’t often see in ladies singles. But opponents she has faced so far were either one dimensional hard hitters (Keys, Kostyuk) or lack firepower (Mertens) Muchova’variety presents a unique challenge for Noskova. Their only previous meeting ended in a close 3 set victory for Muchova at the US open. Noskova is playing with more confidence now so it shoud be a very good match.