MASON - Coco Gauff beat Karo­lina Muchova 6-3 6-4 to win the biggest title of her young career at the Cincinnati Open on Sunday and extend her outstanding run of form on North Ameri­can hard courts ahead of the U.S. Open. 

The American teenager, seeded seventh, broke the Czech three times in the first set and confidently served out the opener to love in her first WTA 1000 final appearance. Muchova was too inconsistent on a hot day in Ohio, com­mitting 35 unforced errors in the match and badly missing a backhand down the line to hand Gauff the break and a 3-2 second-set lead. 

Gauff had some trouble get­ting over the finish line, failing to convert three match point opportunities while serving at 5-2 thanks to some tentative groundstrokes. But she did not falter on her next chance as Muchova’sreturn landed wide, leaving Gauff to jump up and down in jubilation.