​Coco Gauff will not add a Wimbledon title to her French Open and U.S. Open trophies. The seventh seed Gauff delivered a memorable semifinal against the tenth-seeded Karolina Muchova, but couldn’t convert a match point and ultimately fell short 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(10) after 2 hours and 35 minutes. Gauff had entered the match with a 6-1 edge in the all-time head-to-head versus the Czech star. Muchova, 29, extended her impressive year by winning the first set and improving to 29-0 when she takes the opening frame; Gauff, 22, had previously won 10 matches after dropping the first set. During the closing stages of the match, Muchova clutched at her left side, but she afterward insisted she was feeling fine.
Muchova is aiming to join a lineage of Czech women who have thrived at Wimbledon, advancing to a second major final after losing the 2023 Roland Garros championship to Iga Świątek. In the other semifinal, No. 9 Linda Noskova, who is also Czech, will meet No. 12 Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine after the Gauff–Muchova clash.
The match produced a dramatic third-set tiebreak, with both players raising their level. Muchova surged to a 4-1 lead, and she followed with a diving forehand volley winner to reach 5-3. At 8-all on Muchova’s serve, she received a time violation warning, then sent a backhand long to give Gauff a match point at 9-8. Gauff had a chance to seal it with a forehand drop shot, but it found the net, drawing a smile from her. At 9-all, Muchova delivered a superb forehand lob for a point, and another forehand winner gave her match point at 10-9. Gauff saved it with a passing shot at 10-all, but Muchova struck an inside-out forehand winner to move to 11-10. Serving to win, Muchova closed it out with a two-handed backhand winner that slipped past Gauff and into the corner.
In the decisive set, Gauff created opportunities to break at 4-all but narrowly missed on a line-wide forehand and a backhand. Muchova held at 5-4. The first set had gone to Muchova after she secured the early break at 2-1 when Gauff netted a forehand on break point, and she doubled down with a second break before sealing the set with an ace. Gauff finished the set with 12 unforced errors to Muchova’s seven winners and went 0-for-5 on break chances.
Throughout the match, Muchova established the tempo early in the first set, and she capitalized on Gauff’s miscues to claim the lead. The Czech star’s performance in this semifinal underscored her status as a formidable opponent on grass, as she converted her first major final bid since the 2023 Roland Garros final. The semifinals at Wimbledon continue with Noskova versus Kostyuk in the other half, setting the stage for another intriguing final chapter in this year’s championships.