THE ALL ENGLAND CLUB, London — Coco Gauff is a two-time Grand Slam champion who leads the WTA in three-set wins this year. She had beaten Karolína Muchová six of the seven times they had played.But it was Muchová who won their eighth meeting on the biggest stage yet — Centre Court at Wimbledon — to reach her first final. Muchová will be back there Saturday to play either Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk or her Czech compatriot, Linda Nosková, after she defeated Gauff 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(12-10) by edging through a nail-biting deciding set and tiebreak.Muchová took a 3-1 lead on a crouching forehand volley that just plopped into court — even she shook her head after that. She’d dive for a volley again for a 5-3 lead, but Gauff would not quit and they traded points back and forth for a long while. Both were tight — Muchová received a time violation while serving at 8-8, and Gauff had match point at 9-8 but flubbed a forehand pat into the net.Muchová had match point at 10-9 and came into net, where Gauff came up with an improbable passing shot that Muchová decided to leave — and it found the back corner.Finally, at 11-10, Gauff could do no more. Muchová found the will to dictate one last rally, sent her scurrying around court chasing down the ball and eventually, with Muchová in control, Gauff couldn’t keep up.For the American, the loss is a disappointment with an undeniable silver lining. The 22-year-old was long-considered ill-suited for grass, given how the surface dulls the athletic foundation of her game and rushes her forehand.“Regardless of how the rest of this tournament goes, I really think I’ve found a bit of a breakthrough on grass,” Gauff said earlier this week, while clarifying she still wanted to win the title.She didn’t, but she made considerable progress.How Coco Gauff has found the secret to playing on grassMatthew Futterman and Madison EadesMuchová, the 29-year-old No.10 seed appears to be a natural grass-court player, given her versatility, slice, prowess at net and mid-point creativity. Watching Muchová when she’s in the zone is sublime, but counter to her innate abilities, she hasn’t often gotten the chance to show her best work on grass.She shared the same frustrating history at Wimbledon as her opponent Thursday, who is considered the opposite of a grass-court savant.Before this year, Gauff had never made it past the fourth round, a loaded milestone because it is the stage she reached at her first Wimbledon in 2019. She fell in the first round in 2023 and 2025.Before 2026, Muchová hadn’t logged a single win at Wimbledon since her run to the quarterfinal in 2021. But both players zipped and fought their way through the draw to the semifinals, having taken opposite routes to the tournament. Muchová won the grass-court Bad Homburg Tennis Open in Germany; Gauff lost the opening match of her tuneup event, and then chose to practice instead of competing.