World number six Coco Gauff easily defeated unseeded Czech player Karolina Muchova to claim her eighth WTA title, marking her first win since January.
The 2023 US Open champion showed little sign of that fragility as she claimed a 6-1 6-3 win in one hour and 17 minutes.
Gauff jokingly put her improved form down to a visit to Beijing’s Forbidden City with men’s winner Carlos Alcaraz.
“I guess the Imperial Palace brought us luck, so maybe I will pay a visit next year to get the same luck,” she told an appreciative Chinese audience.
There was nothing lucky about the way the 20-year-old star rattled through the opening set in just 30 minutes, harrying her opponent into a series of unforced errors to claim two breaks of serve.
“I want to say congratulations to you, Karolina, it’s great to see you back on tour,” said Gauff in her post-match interview.
“I think you’re such an amazing player – you deserve everything and hopefully you play many more finals.”
Gauff also thanked her new coach Matt Daly, adding that “obviously things are going well”, after winning her first tournament under his guidance.
She ended her partnership with Brad Gilbert last month following her fourth-round exit at the US Open, where she failed to defend her crown.
Victory in the WTA 1,000 event in Beijing moved Gauff up to fourth place in the Race to the Finals, with the top seven qualifying for the season-ending tournament in Riyadh in November.
She now moves on to the Wuhan Open, which starts on Monday.
