Karolina Muchova and Coco Gauff will contest their third career meeting in what promises to be an intriguing showdown in the final of the 2024 China Open.

Gauff won both of the pair’s previous encounters in straight sets during her blistering run on the North American hard courts last year.

The American triumphed 6-3, 6-4 in the 2023 Cincinnati Open final, before prevailing 6-4, 7-5 in a pulsating US Open semi-final the following month.

Muchova will be playing her second WTA 1000 final as she seeks her biggest career title, having won her only title at the 2019 Korea Open. The Czech has lost in four finals, including the 2023 French Open championship match.

Gauff, meanwhile, is looking to secure her eighth singles tournament victory and second at WTA 1000 level. The 20-year-old won her most recent title at the Auckland Open in January.

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Here, we look at five statistics ahead of Muchova and Gauff’s Beijing battle.

Muchova

China Open history

As the world No 49, Muchova is the lowest-ranked WTA player to reach the final of the China Open since the event was first held in 2004.

She has eclipsed Russia’s Maria Kirilenko, who previously held the record having won the title in Beijing in 2005 when ranked 45th.

The best player not to win a WTA 1000 title?

Muchova is arguably one of the best WTA players not to a WTA 1000 title (or a Grand Slam), and her record at this level of event illustrates this.

The Czech has a win-loss record of 38-16 at WTA 1000 tournaments, giving her the highest win percentage (70.4%) of any player not to win a WTA 1000 event (minimum of 10 matches).

Second Czech finalist in Beijing

Muchova is the second Czech woman to progress to the title match at the China Open after her esteemed fellow countrywoman Petra Kvitova. The 28-year-old can go one better than Kvitova, who lost to Maria Sharapova in the 2014 final.

Gauff

Youngest player to reach China Open final since a WTA great

At the age of 20 years and six months, Gauff is the youngest player to reach the women’s singles final in Beijing since Caroline Wozniacki in 2010.

Gauff also became the youngest woman to reach back-to-back semi-finals at the event since Maria Sharapova in 2004 and 2005.

Three consecutive comebacks

With her victories in the last 16, quarter-finals and the semi-finals in Beijing, Gauff has won three straight WTA Tour matches after losing the opening set for the first time in her career.

The American is the first player to achieve this at a WTA 1000 event since Iga Swiatek in Indian Wells in 2022.

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