Coco’s calamity as Czech mates set up Wimbledon final

Coco Gauff was left putting on a brave face after squandering a golden opportunity to reach the Wimbledon final, the American superstar missing the easiest of forehand winners on match point to allow Karolina Muchova to pull off a great escape.

With Linda Noskova then defeating Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk later on Thursday (Friday AEST) in straight sets in the other semi, it means Wimbledon will now enjoy the first all-Czech final in its 149-year history and there will be third women’s SW19 champion in four years from the small European nation.

In a third-set match tiebreak to decide a magnificent sunshine-laden semi-final on Centre Court, Gauff will surely forever rue the moment she had match point at 9-8 when all she had to do was put away the simplest of forehand winners at the net but instead dinked a drop shot that plonked agonisingly into the net.

It gave the 29-year-old Muchova the chance of an unlikely reprieve as she went on to prevail fearlessly 6-2 1-6 7-6 [12-10] on Thursday (AEST) after having been outplayed in Gauff’s second-set comeback.

Asked about the forehand off a bouncing ball from Muchova, which she could have  seemingly put away anywhere on court, Gauff sighed about her drop shot: “People who don’t watch tennis are going to be like, ‘Why did you do that?’

“At the end of the day, that’s the choice I made. Was it the right one in that moment? Maybe not. But then also, if I make it, everyone’s going to say how clutch of a shot that was. I think that’s just tennis.

“You lose some points off margins. Honestly, the return came back like in a tricky place for me. The bounce kind of caught me off guard. I just panicked a little bit,” added the 22-year-old, who’d been on the verge of making the final for the first time since she came to the All England Club as a 15-year-old sensation.

It helped Muchova regroup, then she held her nerve superbly to reach her second grand slam final after losing to Iga Swiatek in the 2023 French Open.

Muchova, who’s had a career riddled with injury woes, ended up struggling physically again at the end with an abdomen problem but she held firm as temperatures soared to over 91C and prevailed after two hours 35 minutes, revealing afterwards that she’d be fine for the final.

She’ll now be playing 21-year-old rising star Noskova, who took advantage of a couple of weak service games at the end of each set from in-form Kostyuk to win 6-4 6-4  and set up the first all-Czech final in a slam since the men’s showdown won by Ivan Lendl against Miroslav Mecir at the 1989 Australian Open.

The pair will be trying to emulate Marketa Vondrousova (champion in 2023) and Barbora Krejcikova (winner in 2024) in what will be a contrast between the aggressive power player Noskova, the world No.12, and the creative grass-court artist, world No.9 Muchova.

Noskova has won more matches on grass than any other woman over the past two years and though Kostyuk had been equally in-form, having won 21 of her previous 22 matches, she was found wanting at the end of her first major semi-final and missed out on the chance to be a first Ukrainian grand slam finalist.

The Czech story remains an astonishing one, with former champs Petra Kvitova, Jana Novotna and Prague native Martina Navratilova, whose nine titles came under the United States flag, also all at the heart of the fairytale.

“One thing I do remember is when Petra Kvitova won here,” said Noskova. “This was maybe one of the first moments when I realised a sport such as tennis exists. I’m still in shock that I had the chance to play on this court.

“Karolina, she is such a great fighter, an incredible player, but mainly she’s a great person and I’m glad I get to play my first final with her.”