Linda Noskova becomes youngest Czech since 1990 to reach a WTA 1000 final

Czech Linda Noskova earned a milestone victory on Saturday at the China Open with a Hurculean effort. The 20-year-old saved three match points in a 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(6) semifinal win over No. 5 seed Jessica Pegula to reach her the biggest final of her career.

Already assured of a Top 20 debut next week by virtue of her run to the semifinals, Noskova now supplants Petra Kvitova as the youngest Czech player to reach a Tier I or WTA 1000 final since 1990.

Both players traded early breaks in the third set before Pegula earned another in the 11th game and served for the match. She had a 40-15 lead in the penultimate game, and three match points in all, but was broken. Later, Pegula had leads of 3-1 and 5-4 in the tiebreak, the latter of which with two service points to come, but Noskova earned the

In the high-quality affair, the two players combined to hit 77 winners—42 of them by Noskova.

But both players struck more winners than unforced errors, leading the youngster to dub the tussle "the best match [between them] yet."

"It was just a few points ... win or lose. Jessie played incredible," Noskova said after improving her head-to-head record against the 2024 US Open finalist to 2-1.

The title match between Noskova and Amanda Anisimova will be only the second WTA 1000 final between two players born after 2000, following February's Dubai final between Mirra Andreeva and Clara Tauson.

Anisimova earned her spot in the final by routing defending champion Coco Gauff in under an hour.

Read more: Amanda Anisimova storms past Coco Gauff in 58 minutes, 6-1, 6-2, in semifinals of Beijing

Noskova and Anisimova are tied 1-1 in their career meetings, including a tight three-set triumph for Anisimova on her way to the Wimbledon final in July.