Karolina Muchova recovered from a very slow start to the match to beat world No. 26 Marta Kostyuk 2-6 6-2 6-4 in a Wuhan first-round battle that lasted just more than two and a half hours.
Following a tight Beijing round-of-16 loss to Jessica Pegula, Kostyuk made a very promising start in Wuhan after claiming two early breaks to routinely take the opening set.
After basically not standing a chance in the first set, 12th-seeded Muchova woke up at the start of the second set and won five consecutive games to open a 5-1 lead before serving out for a decider in the eighth game.
Muchova continued with her fine play at the start of the third set, registering breaks in the first and seventh games to open a comfortable 5-2 lead. Down by two breaks, Kostuyk refused to quit and managed to get one break and eventually reduce the deficit to 5-4. However, serving for the match for the second time, the Czech tennis star remained calm and managed to complete her comeback win.
For Muchova, this was her first Wuhan win since she is debuting at the tournament this year. In the next round, the 29-year-old faces the winner of the match between Veronika Kudermetova and Magdalena Frech.
Muchova ends Kostyuk's 2025 season
After arriving in Wuhan, Kostyuk revealed that it would be her last tournament of the season.
This is my last event of the year and you start to think about all the things that you have done and whether you could have gone better... I lost a lot of matches to top ten players, especially in the Grand Slam tournaments. I was going far in every one and I just couldnt get over the line against these big players," the Ukrainian told Tennis365.
As you can see, Kostyuk noted in her interview that she was not happy with her inability to get over the hump against the best players this year. The Wuhan loss to Muchova certainly didn't help.
