Muchova overcomes Osaka to complete Grand Slam semifinal set at Wimbledon

Just over a week after beating Naomi Osaka in the Bad Homburg final, Karolina Muchova did it again Tuesday, winning 7-6 (4), 6-4 in 1 hour and 40 minutes to reach her first Wimbledon semifinal. With the victory, she became the eighth active player to reach the women's singles semifinals at all four Grand Slams.

Wimbledon: Scores | Order of play | Draws

She joins Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka, Karolina Pliskova, Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff in completing the set. Gauff did so just hours earlier by defeating Jessica Pegula to make her own first Wimbledon semifinal.

Muchova is also the fourth Czech player in the Open Era to achieve the feat, following Hana Mandlikova, Jana Novotna and Pliskova.

Muchova is additionally the first player to beat Osaka in a Grand Slam quarterfinal. Osaka had been 5-0 before today.

"Oh my gosh, I was nervous," Muchova said in her on-court interview. "I was very nervous. As you said, she's unbelievable. We've played so many times. We played a week ago in a tournament against each other, so I think we know each other pretty well at this point. And I know that you can't lose that focus. You have to still keep going and play every point, because if you give her a chance, she takes it.

"All the best to her. She is a great tennis player and I'm glad I won today."

As it happens, Muchova will face Gauff in the semifinals, and there is plenty of history between them. They have met seven times, with Gauff leading the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz head-to-head 6-1. Muchova, however, won their most recent meeting earlier this season in Stuttgart.

That victory -- albeit on clay -- paired with her well-round showing against Osaka should give Muchova plenty of confidence heading into Thursday's semifinal. It appeared the 29-year-old hardly put a foot wrong, and the numbers back it up:

• Aces: 7
• First serves in: 69%
• First-serve points won: 80%
• Second-serve points won: 50%
• Net points won: 67%
• Winners: 24
• Unforced errors: 21

Osaka breaks in opening game, Muchova's composure shines in tiebreak

As she had throughout the tournament, Osaka came out firing, ripping winners on back-to-back points to open the match. It earned her an early break, though the advantage didn't last long as Muchova broke back immediately. After Osaka broke again in the third game, Muchova once more drew level at 2-all.

After four breaks to start, neither player surrendered serve again and Osaka's forehand winner to hold for 6-6 sent the set into a tiebreak.

There it was all Muchova. Her patience drew a string of errors from her opponent as she built a 6-2 lead. Osaka saved two set points, but Muchova converted the third with a forehand winner to move in front.

Muchova strikes in penultimate game, serves her way into the semifinals

Muchova simply went about her business in the second set. She fired an ace to seal a love hold for 1-1, struck a forehand winner to hold for 2-2 and held to love again for 3-3. Two games later, a pair of aces guided her to yet another hold to level at 4-all. That's when the Czech made her move.

Again capitalizing on a run of errors off Osaka's racket, Muchova converted her second break point for a 5-4 lead and the chance to serve for a spot in the semifinals. With the pressure on, she continued to cruise on serve, just as she had done since the fifth game of the opening set.

"I got broken twice at the start of the match. I think I needed to get used to the court," Muchova said in her post-match press conference. "But once I got used to it, I felt pretty comfortable. It definitely helps a lot when I have a good day and I'm serving well. In the tough moments or on game points, I can just rely on the serve or serve plus one."

She didn't even have to worry about the plus one shot in the final game, because while Osaka may have opened the match with back-to-back winners, Muchova finished it with back-to-back aces to close out a straight-sets victory.

It came against an opponent in Osaka who had yet to drop a set in her first four matches at the All England Club.

With the win, Muchova matched Elina Svitolina for the most WTA semifinals reached in 2026 with six. It's already the most she has made in a single season. She improved to 6-0 in quarterfinals this year.

And how's this for a bit of déjà vu? Muchova is the first No. 10 seed to reach a women's singles Grand Slam semifinal since... herself at the 2023 US Open, where she faced... Gauff.

She'll be hoping for a different result this time after losing that contest in straight sets.

"She is just a great athlete overall," Muchova said. "One of the best in the world in our sport. It's tough to play against her. I'm happy we have a 0-0 on the grass. That's a bit better balance for me there."