Underdog Muchova Stages Stunning Comeback to Defeat Kostyuk in Wuhan

On October 7th, 2025, in a closely contested Wuhan Open first-round match, 12th-seeded Karolina Muchova staged a remarkable comeback to defeat world No. 26 Marta Kostyuk 2-6 6-2 6-4.

Kostyuk, who had revealed that the Wuhan tournament would be her last of the 2025 season, made a promising start to the match, claiming two early breaks to comfortably take the opening set 6-2. However, Muchova woke up at the start of the second set, winning five consecutive games to open a 5-1 lead before serving out the set.

Continuing her fine play, Muchova registered breaks in the first and seventh games of the deciding set to open a comfortable 5-2 lead. Despite Kostyuk's efforts to get one break back and reduce the deficit to 5-4, Muchova remained calm and completed her comeback victory.

For Muchova, this was her first-ever win at the Wuhan Open, as she was making her debut at the tournament this year. In the next round, the 29-year-old will face the winner of the match between Veronika Kudermetova and Magdalena Frech.

Kostyuk's loss to Muchova marked the end of a challenging 2025 season for the Ukrainian, as she had expressed disappointment over her inability to get past top-10 players, especially in Grand Slam events.