Gauff returns to defeat Badosa and will meet Muchova in the final in Beijing.

BEIJING (AP) — Coco Gauff bounced back from a third straight match loss to beat Paula Badosa 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 on Saturday to reach the China Open final.

The sixth-ranked player will face Czech Karolina Muchova in Sunday’s final and will compete for her second Masters title. Gauff leads 7-1 in the Tour final.

In the other semi-final, Muchova beat Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qingwen 6-3, 6-4.

The 20-year-old American has a habit of starting slowly in Beijing and the script suited her again as Badosa (19) took a difficult first set in 59 minutes, saving 10 of 11 break points.

The Spaniard went up 3-1 in the second game before the 2023 US Open champion turned around, fended off four break points and leveled the match at 4-4.

Gauff then held at 5-4 and broke Badosa to force a third set.

“I thought he played well all the time, there were only a few unforced errors, he played well too,” Gauff admitted in his on-court interview. “I tried to stay focused. Mentally, I was trying to reorganize myself.”

Shanghai Masters

Carlos Alcaraz and world No. 1 Jannik Sinner showed no signs of fatigue after playing in the China Open final this week and advanced confidently into their first matches in Shanghai.

Alcaraz, the second seed who beat the Italian in Beijing on Wednesday to claim his fourth title of the year, picked up his 10th straight victory by defeating 19-year-old Chinese Shang Juncheng 6-2, 6-2.

The 21-year-old Spaniard grabbed the first nine match points and four of the seven breaks. He will now face another Chinese man in the third round against Wu Yibing.

“I’m not used to playing against players younger than me,” Alcaraz said. “He’s been playing good tennis lately and won his first ATP title (in Chengdu), so I’m sure he’ll continue to climb the rankings.”

Sinner, who is fighting a doping case, comfortably beat Japan’s Taro Daniel 6-1, 6-4 for the 250th win of his career.

“I felt pretty comfortable today,” said 23-year-old Sinner, who will now face Argentine Thomas Martin Echeverri. “I feel good physically, which is important to me.”

Jakub Mensik (65) beat sixth-seeded Andrey Rublev seven times to claim a surprise 6-7 (7), 6-4, 6-3 victory.

Third seed Alexander Zverev began his journey with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Italy’s Mattia Bellucci, who advanced from the qualifying round. While Novak Djokovic had more problems, but in the end he won with a score of 7-6 (3), 7-6 (9) over American Alex Michelsen.

Yosuke Watanuki also scored a surprise win, defeating Brendan Nakashima (35) 7-6 (4), 6-3. The Japanese, who qualified, will now face the winner of the fight between Taylor Fritz and Terrence Atmane, who also qualified.

Also, Alexey Popyrin (24) beat Miomir Kecmanovic with a score of 6-3, 6-2.