An unwanted record on the line: Karolina Muchova boasts highest WTA 1000 win rate without a title.... for now

Karolina Muchova has never won a WTA 1000 title. Despite the class she possesses on court this category of tournaments are still out of reach for the Czech athlete, but not for the want of trying.

In total she has competed in 25 1000 tournaments over the space of seven years. A sporadic completion rate is largely due to injury, with her only competing in two events in 2024, holding back the progress of a very talented tennis player.

She is a former Grand Slam finalist, losing out to Iga Swiatek in the 2023 Roland Garros final. She also made another three semi-finals on the biggest stage, but the results do not bode well when looking at what she has won on the WTA Tour.

The 2019 Korea Open is the only WTA title she has collected from six finals reached, which also includes two WTA 1000 finals. These came in the 2023 Cincinnati Open where she was defeated by Coco Gauff in straight sets before the events were repeated just over a year later in the China Open as Muchova's poor form against Gauff continued.

As good as the stat sounds, it is something a tennis player with the calibre of Muchova does not want looming over her. She has a better win rate in this category of tournament than any other player without a WTA 1000 title.

It currently stands at an impressive 69.7%. The two finals she reached definitely helped in this number being high. Aside from that, there were not too many other deep runs with a lot of early exits. Her last semi-final came in the 2025 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships where she was pipped by Clara Tauson in three sets in a disappointing defeat where another final chance was almost in range. Another three quarter-finals are her best results.

This record could be soon passed onto the next best player with the drought quite possibly being abolished soon. Muchova is into the Qatar Open semi-final where she will face off against Maria Sakkari.

The 14th seed has already defeated Jaqueline Cristian, Tereza Valentova, Karolina Pliskova and Anna Kalinskaya to get to this stage, all without dropping a set in a hugely impressive outing in Qatar. The final is in reach if she can continue her fine form against Sakkari, winning her prior four ties against the former world number three.

If she does manage to reach a third WTA 1000 final, then either Victoria Mboko or Jelena Ostapenko will be waiting for her in Saturday's final.