BEIJING: Coco Gauff fought back from a set down to battle into the China Open final on Saturday setting up a showdown with party-pooper Karolina Muchova.
The American former US Open champion beat Spain’s Paula Badosa 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to close on an eighth title.
The 20-year-old faces Muchova after the 49th-ranked Czech silenced a capacity Beijing crowd to beat Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in straight sets.
Sixth-ranked Gauff has struggled for form in recent months and split with coach Brad Gilbert after her US Open defense ended in the last 16 in a blur of double-faults.
Gauff struggled again with her serve against Badosa, racking up 11 double-faults.
But she belatedly found a semblance of top form to down the former world number two in two hours, 20 minutes.
With a new coaching set-up in place, Gauff said that she had not really expected to be in the final.
“Has this week been my best tennis? In moments, yes,” said Gauff, the youngest player to reach the China Open decider since Caroline Wozniacki in 2010.
“I think today I reached some levels where I was playing my best tennis. Obviously, that’s not the case for the whole match.”
The 19th-ranked Badosa broke in the fifth game of the first set as Gauff’s problems with her serve resurfaced.
The eighth game was mammoth, with Gauff finally converting her eighth break point, and she celebrated by putting both arms in the air.
The jubilation was short-lived, as Badosa broke back immediately and sealed the set on her third set point when Gauff overhit a simple forehand return.
Badosa broke once more to start the second set and Gauff was in danger of losing her cool, whacking the sole of her foot with her racquet as she fell 2-0 down.
Gauff recovered her poise to twice break the Spaniard and take the set against a suddenly rattled Badosa.
It was the first set Badosa had dropped in Beijing and Gauff took that ascendancy into the deciding set as her opponent faded fast.
Gauff’s only title of the year so far came in Auckland in January.
In the other semifinal, Muchova disappointed the 15,000 crowd to beat a subdued Zheng 6-3, 6-4.
The Czech is the lowest-ranked player to reach the Beijing final since the tournament began in 2004.
Last year’s French Open finalist toppled top seed Aryna Sabalenka in the quarter-finals on Friday.
She eased through the first set against Paris gold medalist Zheng and was unrelenting in the second to ram home her advantage.
Serving to stay in the tournament, the 21-year-old Zheng dug deep to save two match points in the ninth game, but the reprieve was only very brief.
The 28-year-old Muchova was inside the top 10 this time last year but did not play for nearly 10 months after having wrist surgery.
She is pursuing only the second title of her career.
Gauff has won both their previous two meetings, most recently in the US Open semifinals last year on the way to clinching her first major crown.
Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
https://arab.news/gj499
Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
- The American former US Open champion beat Spain’s Paula Badosa 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to close on an eighth title
- In the other semifinal, Karolina Muchova disappointed the 15,000 crowd to beat Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen 6-3, 6-4
Learner Tien’s ‘victory royale’ sets him up for promising 2025
- American teenager to face good friend and compatriot Michelsen in Jeddah Next Gen semifinals
JEDDAH: As American teenager Learner Tien wrapped up a four-set victory over Arthur Fils on Friday to reach the semifinals of the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah, his next opponent, Alex Michelsen, rose to his feet on the sidelines to applaud his good friend and point to a message printed on the back of his sweatshirt: “Victory Royale” — a nod to the hours he and Tien have spent playing the video game Fortnite together.
“We play a lot together. So it’s kind of a joke,” Tien told Arab News in Jeddah on Friday. “Our agent got us tracksuits that say it on the back. We both got different colors.”
Tien and Michelsen share more than just a love for video games and matching tracksuits. They have trained at the same academy in Irvine, California for the past four years under the tutelage of Jay Leavitt and Eric Diaz, and share the same agent, Mats Merkel of IMG.
Their friendship will briefly take a backseat when they square off in Jeddah on Saturday evening, as they vie for a spot in the final at the prestigious 20-and-under tournament.
“It’s really cool I think,” said Tien. “I’ve been telling him that we are going to play at this tournament for a while. We’ve played, obviously, before, but never at the professional level. I think he’s 2-1 on me in singles. He tries to count doubles and say it’s 4-1, but I only count singles; so he’s up one on me right now.”
Despite missing three months of action earlier this season due to a fractured rib, Tien has amassed a 62-13 win-loss record over 2024 across all levels, including a trio of titles on the Challenger Tour.
He started the season ranked 473 in the world and hit a career-high mark of 114 last month to position himself as one of the top Next Gen players on the men’s professional circuit.
When he returned from his injury layoff in May, he won a stunning 28 matches in a row across six different tournaments, setting the tone for a strong finish to the season here in Jeddah.
“I think a lot of things changed for him mentally when he got injured,” Diaz told Arab News on Friday. “He matured a lot, started working a lot harder, taking things a little bit more seriously — not that he didn’t prior, but you could see the maturity level change. He diligently worked, diligently analyzed what he needed to get better at and he really went after it.”
This isn’t the first time Tien has benefitted from taking a break from tennis. When the pandemic shut down the tour in 2020, it came at a time where Tien needed some time away from the sport to be a regular young teenager, although ‘regular’ might not necessarily be the right word, since during that hiatus, Tien managed to graduate from high school at the age of 15.
At 16, he won his first of two USTA U18 National Championships and at 17 he attended the University of Southern California for a semester before deciding to turn pro.
Asked if starting high school when he was just 11 years old helped him make such big leaps in professional tennis as a teenager, Tien said: “I honestly did all that early just because my mom was a teacher, so she started me in school early. I really didn’t want to, but I’m glad she did it now. Obviously, it’s great to have all that stuff out of the way so I can just focus on tennis, like I’ve wanted to for a while. Having school, there was an incentive for me to play tennis instead. I’m truly grateful that she started me young, but I definitely didn’t enjoy it.”
Although Tien always knew he was good at tennis — a sport he was introduced to by his parents — he admitted he “didn’t love it” early on.
“(But) I thought I’d put so much time into it already, it would be kind of a waste just to stop. I thought that when I was 10 or 11. Thought that even more when I was 13 or 14, like, ‘Oh, I’ve played even longer now, it will be a bigger waste if I stop now,’” he reflected. “Then, I eventually found that love for it and it’s taken me to where I am today.”
He says the breaks he took during the COVID pandemic and his injury this year have helped him “reset” and made him appreciate the sport even more.
“Obviously taking time away from tennis, you end up missing it a little bit, so when you come back, you’re a little bit more motivated and it’s kind of easier to go out there day in, day out, just because you’ve been away for a while,” he said. “I think that really helped — especially this year. Coming back, I was a lot more motivated to practice harder and work on a lot of things that needed some work and it inevitably ended up helping me a lot.”
This is the first time Tien has competed in a tournament outside the US at the professional level and he’s excited to continue that trend when he heads to Hong Kong for the official start of his 2025 season, before flying to Melbourne for the Australian Open.
Previous Next Gen ATP Finals participants and champions have gone on to achieve great things on the tour, with the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner both claiming Grand Slam titles and topping the world rankings not long after their participation.
“I think it’s cool to know that you’re following in their footsteps, going down a similar path to people that have had so much success — even recent winners having a lot of success,” said Tien.
“It’s definitely cool to feel like you’re doing the right thing and you’re taking the right steps to get to that level someday. But I don’t think there’s any pressure that comes with it.”
As he looks to enjoy his first full season at the ATP level in 2025, Tien is bracing himself for change, knowing he’ll be facing new challenges. Not only will the competition level get higher, he’ll also have to learn to adjust to a different calendar that features multiple surface changes, and a great deal of international travel.
His coach Diaz believes stepping up physically will be key for this next chapter of Tien’s tennis journey.
“The jump from the Futures to the Challengers, the difference is the physicality. And then the jump from the Challengers to the main tour is obviously physicality. Learner definitely has the footspeed, the hand speed… but continuing to develop and to become a man, he’s going to have to get stronger,” said Diaz.
Michelsen, who is a year older than Tien, has already made that leap to the ATP Tour and is ranked a career-high 41 in the world.
Diaz is aware both Tien and Michelsen will likely be facing off at tournaments more often moving forward, which will be an interesting dynamic given they share the same team.
“It’s really cool. Both Jay and I, it’s honestly something we never really thought would happen years ago when we started all of it. It’s a surreal moment,” said Diaz, looking ahead to the semifinal in Jeddah.
“Both of those boys have worked incredibly hard. They’ve pushed each other to get better and to improve. So to be on a stage like this now — and to have a guarantee one of them is in the final — is a pretty cool moment.
“Hopefully it does continue to happen, because I think that means they’re both continuing to push each other to get better. It would be an interesting thing. I’m not sure that either one of them would be there if it wasn’t for the other one. We’re big (believers that) iron sharpens iron. So it’s gone well.”
Rafael Nadal delights fans after landing in Jeddah for Next Gen ATP Finals
- The Spanish tennis legend toured the old city of Al-Balad and greeted a massive crowd at King Abdullah Sports City
JEDDAH: Tennis superstar Rafael Nadal began his three-day visit on Friday to Jeddah, where he took a tour of Al-Balad and met players and fans at the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF.
The Spanish legend started his time in Jeddah by visiting Al-Balad and taking a tour of Jeddah Historic District before making his way to King Abdullah Sports City, where the Next Gen ATP Finals are being played.
Nadal led a meet-and-greet and attended a prize-giving ceremony at an U-14 ATF tournament, which was held at a stadium next to the main competition.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion met future stars of tennis competing in the Next Gen ATP Finals — Alex Michelsen, Jakub Mensik and Joao Fonseca — before thrilling the massive crowd in the fan zone, where he signed autographs and posed for selfies.
Nadal, who is working with the Saudi Tennis Federation to support its ambition of inspiring one million people to engage — from playing to administration — with tennis by 2030, continues his tour of Jeddah on Saturday by meeting Saudi Davis Cup players ahead of the semifinals of the Next Gen ATP Finals.
Semifinal lineup set for Next Gen ATP finals in Jeddah
- Learner Tien stuns top seed Arthur Fils to face Alex Michelsen at King Abdullah Sports City
- Van Assche defeats Basavareddy to set up clash with undefeated Joao Fonseca in Saturday’s other match
JEDDAH: The semifinal lineup for the 2024 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF was confirmed on Friday following a dramatic conclusion to the group stage in Jeddah.
Sixth seed Learner Tien produced a sensational performance against top seed Arthur Fils to open the evening session with a 4-2, 4-2, 3-4 (4-7), 4-3 (7-5) victory that created an electric atmosphere inside the King Abdullah Sports City stadium.
With only the winner advancing from the Blue Group to the semifinals, the tension was present from the first point, and it ensured a match full of drama and excitement. Despite being separated by 102 places in the PIF ATP Rankings, it was the lower-ranked Tien who seized control, securing early breaks in the first two sets to take a commanding 2-0 lead.
However, Fils refused to go down without a fight. The World No.20 from France, buoyed by the majority of the enthusiastic support, soon displayed his world-class ability to fight back and win the third set. A knife-edge fourth set eventually went to another tiebreak before Tien emerged victorious to continue a remarkably successful week in his first professional tournament outside the US.
The 19-year-old was supported by fellow American Alex Michelsen during his match against Fils, but the two friends will become opponents on Saturday when they play each other for a place in the final.
Tien said: “It was great from the moment we walked out. The crowd was great, the atmosphere was really good, and it carried throughout the match, so it was really fun playing out there.”
In the first of the two winner-takes-all group stage matches on Friday, sixth seed Luca Van Assche claimed the runner-up spot in the Red Group by defeating seventh seed Nishesh Basavareddy 3-4 (2-7), 4-3 (9-7), 4-2, 4-2 following an entertaining and competitive contest.
The 20-year-old Frenchman reached the last four on his debut in Jeddah last year and has now matched that result, having secured two wins out of three in the group stage.
Van Assche will next face Joao Fonseca on Saturday for a place in the final after the 18-year-old Brazilian topped the Blue Group with a marathon 3-4 (4-7), 4-3 (10-8), 4-3 (7-5), 3-4 (4-7), 4-3 (7-5) victory over the already-eliminated third seed Jakub Mensik in the last match of the day.
On playing Fonseca in the semifinals, Van Assche said: “He’s an unbelievable talent. I practiced with him four or five days ago, so he’s a tough opponent for sure. I know that I can beat him, so it will be a very good match — a tough one. But you practice to play these matches, so it’ll be cool.”
Day three got underway with second seed Alex Michelsen confirming his place as the winner of the Red Group after fourth seed Juncheng Shang retired from their match. The 20-year-old American was leading 4-1, 1-1 before China’s Shang called time early, having struggled with illness over the last two days.
Michelsen has enjoyed a successful return to Jeddah. He went winless on his debut appearance in 2023, but has been a leading star this year, winning all three of his group stage matches to ease into the semifinals.
Green Falcons arrive in Kuwait for 26th Arabian Gulf Cup
RIYADH: The Saudi national football team arrived in Kuwait on Friday ahead of the 26th Arabian Gulf Cup to take place from Dec. 21 until Jan. 3 next year.
Upon arrival at Kuwait International Airport, the team was welcomed by Deputy Saudi Ambassador to Kuwait Yahya Al-Qahtani and several other officials, state news agency SPA reported.
The Green Falcons are scheduled to conduct an evening training session on Saturday at the Yarmouk Club Stadium, with the first 15 minutes opened for members of the media.
Cavaliers cruise past Bucks, Embiid shines in Sixers win
- The Cavaliers, winners of seven of their last eight, improved to 15-1 at home and got good news with the season debut of Max Strus
- The Oklahoma City Thunder, who fell to the Bucks in the Cup final on Tuesday, notched their second victory since then, beating the Heat 104-97
LOS ANGELES: The Cleveland Cavaliers delivered a reality check to newly crowned NBA Cup champions Milwaukee on Friday, dominating the Bucks 124-101 to push their league-best record to 24-4.
Donovan Mitchell scored 27 points and Darius Garland added 16 for the Cavs, who led by as many as 36 points as the Bucks struggled in the absence of injured guard Damian Lillard.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, who led the Bucks to victory in the NBA Cup final against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday, scored 33 points with 14 rebounds and three steals.
Khris Middleton, back from illness, scored 14 points off the bench for Milwaukee, but starting guards Andre Jackson Jr and AJ Green were a combined 0-for-9 from the field, neither contributing a point.
The Cavaliers, winners of seven of their last eight, improved to 15-1 at home and got good news with the season debut of Max Strus — who had been sidelined with hip and ankle injuries.
Strus scored nine points in 19:07 minutes off the bench for Cleveland and drilled three of their 20 three-pointers.
“We did it on both ends of the floor,” Mitchell said. “We set the tone, offensively, defensively. Knowing they had a long trip back (we were) trying to get going early, push the pace, and we did it for 48 minutes.”
Bucks coach Doc Rivers, who had called it “weird” to pick up regular-season action after playing the semifinals and final of the in-season tournament in Las Vegas, said the game was not a good gauge of where the Bucks are.
“We were flat, tired, whatever you want to call it,” Rivers said. “There’s no read on tonight’s game... give them all the credit.”
In Philadelphia, the 76ers’ star center Joel Embiid wore a protective mask as he returned after missing one game because of a sinus fracture to score 34 points in a 108-98 victory over the Charlotte Hornets.
Embiid, who had been expected to sit out at least through Saturday after taking an inadvertent blow to the face last week, added five rebounds, nine assists, two steals and two blocked shots.
Tyrese Maxey scored 23 points and Kelly Oubre Jr. added 22 for Philadelphia, who notched their fourth win in five games as they try to climb into the race for a play-in berth.
Embiid has been largely absent from the Sixers’ stuttering season. The 2023 NBA Most Valuable Player was appearing in just his seventh game of the campaign after his troublesome left knee delayed his season debut.
The Oklahoma City Thunder, who fell to the Bucks in the Cup final on Tuesday, notched their second victory since then, beating the Heat 104-97 in Oklahoma.
Jalen Williams scored 33 points and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 25 for the Thunder, who were coming off a victory over the Orlando Magic on Thursday.
Tyler Herro scored 28 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the Heat, but Miami clearly missed the contribution of star forward Jimmy Butler, who departed in the first quarter and was ruled out for the rest of the game because of illness.
Miami’s Bam Adebayo departed briefly in the third quarter after taking an accidental elbow over his left eye. He returned after receiving seven stitches and finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
