Wimbledon 2026: It’s Czech mate at SW19

The ultra-talented Karolina Muchova squeezed past two-time major champion Coco Gauff 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(12/10), surviving a match point along the way, to reach her second Grand Slam final, and first at Wimbledon, on Thursday.

After wiping a 3-6 deficit in the super tiebreak, Gauff held a match point at 9-8, with a serve in hand. The American seventh seed got a short ball at a decent height up at the net, but hesitated for a split second and chose to hit a drop shot. The ball tamely landed in the net and the duo were tied once again.

Muchova had a match point come and go, then hit an inch perfect lob winner to get a second chance to close out the match and this time she did not falter, completing a 2hr 35min win in front of a buoyant Centre Court crowd.

Gauff would be forgiven if she felt bitter after coming so close to victory and squandering it on a missed drop shot attempt.

But the 22-year-old could not deny the quality of her opponent and sang Muchova’s praises after the match.

“I always said that she's obviously a successful player, but I think she's someone that deserves more success of how talented she is,” said Gauff.

“I think that we have the head-to-head that has leaned my way (6-2 for Gauff), but it's not an opponent you want to face at any point of the tournament. I have so much respect for how she plays and how she is off the court.

“I don't know. It's just one of those battles that I'm… I don't know. It's a match I'm going to remember for my career. It sucks to be on the losing end, but even walking off the court, I was like, ‘That was a lot of fun’.”

Muchova boasts a versatile and crafty game that is accompanied by a high level of tennis IQ.

The 29-year-old Czech reached her first major semi-final at the Australian Open in 2021 and made her first major final at Roland-Garros in 2023.

Serious injuries have caused numerous interruptions to what could have been a trophy-laden past five years but she is now pain-free and playing the kind of tennis that could earn her a maiden Grand Slam title when she faces her compatriot Linda Noskova in Saturday’s final.

“It's a very special moment. It's a great achievement,” said Muchova, who saved 11 of 13 break points throughout the match against Gauff.

“This is one of the biggest tournaments that we have; so many legends were playing here, as well to just get to play on the Centre Court, it was so nice. Yeah, just incredibly glad and happy that it happened and that I have a chance to play another final.”

Muchova is 11-1 on grass this season, with a title in Bad Homburg clinched in the build-up to these Championships (she’s on a 10-match winning streak at the moment).

After making the quarter-finals on her first two Wimbledon appearances in 2019 and 2021, Muchova didn’t win another match at the All England Club until this year. She now has the chance to make it seven wins in a row on Wimbledon’s hallowed turf and lift the Venus Rosewater dish in two days’ time.

“I think on the grass I didn't play that many matches overall until this year, I would say,” she said.

“I'd say I'm pretty adaptive, that I can adapt to all the surfaces. I like them all because you can use all different type of game, weapons, spins on all the surfaces. I enjoy the changes.”

Muchova admits the tiebreak was an emotional roller coaster and she suffered a stitch towards the end that made it hard to breathe.

“One point I felt good, I hit a nice winner, and then I did like a terrible mistake. In my head I was just like, I have to keep hitting. I was telling myself if I'm going to lose this, I want to lose on my own terms. My terms is going forward, playing aggressive, going to the net,” she explained.

‘Hate me or love me, you can’t deny my progress’

Gauff was playing her first Wimbledon semi-final and is proud of her battling performances this fortnight, having played five consecutive three-setters between round two and the semi-finals.

“It's tough to digest, but I don't know, I'm happy,” said Gauff, who will move back into the world’s top five on Monday.

She doesn’t regret going for the drop shot on match point, although she knows better decision-making would be one of the lessons learned from the match, overall.

“There's one thing to be, like, why play a drop shot? But then I think how many points I won off the drop shot,” said Gauff.

“Yes, 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.

“It's not a painful story. I think thousands of people would love to lose the semi-finals at Wimbledon on match point. This is something I wouldn't love to experience again, for sure no. I think it will make my next moment when I win a match like this even sweeter.”

Gauff is pleased with the progress she has made on the surface, as well as with her serve and attacking game.

“Hate me or love me, you can't deny the progress that's been made this tournament. I don't know, there's a lot of positives. It gets me excited for the future, for sure,” she added.

New milestone for Noskova

In the second semi-final of the day, Linda Noskova claimed a convincing 6-4, 6-4 victory over Ukrainian 12th seed Marta Kostyuk to reach the first Grand Slam final of her career.

The 21-year-old Czech won a title on grass in Berlin ahead of Wimbledon and is 11-1 on the surface entering Saturday’s final.

“I feel... I don't know how I feel really. It has been a great match. I stayed calm the whole time, which was the main goal for me. More or less satisfied,” said Noskova in her post-match press conference.

Noskova knocked out four seeds in a row en route to the Wimbledon final, and was in control against Kostyuk, facing just one break point and winning 15/18 points at the net.

In Berlin, she posted wins over Paula Badosa and Alex Eala before defeating a fourth-ranked Jessica Pegula in the final.

Was this kind of run on the grass expected?

“It always comes out of nowhere, I guess,” she said.

“You can't really plan your success or good times. If I could do it, I would definitely be planning it on every Grand Slam. But after Roland-Garros I was very mentally tired because the clay season was long for me. I've had a lot of good matches, a lot of great tournaments, but Roland-Garros was a disaster for me.

“I kind of had to restart, reset, focus on just enjoying the time on court. This is where it got me.

“At this stage, I would say that it's not about the big things; it's about the small percentage.”

On her part, Kostyuk says she can only take positives from her Wimbledon run, after backing up her semi-final appearance at Roland-Garros last month.

“All positives. As I said after the third round, I'm very privileged to be here. Nothing changed today,” said the 24-year-old.

“I'm happy with the run. If someone told me two weeks ago I'm going to be here, I would take it without thinking. So everything's fine.”