Karolína Muchová sends Naomi Osaka out of Wimbledon, will meet Coco Gauff in last four

ALL ENGLAND CLUB, London — After a miserable few years at the All England Club, Karolína Muchová is where she belongs — in the Wimbledon semifinals.

Having exited the tournament at the first-round stage in each of her previous four visits, Muchová underlined why she is widely considered to be the most natural grass-court player left in the draw with a 7-6(4), 6-4 victory over Naomi Osaka, setting up a last-four meeting with Coco Gauff.

Given how well Osaka had played in outclassing the world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the previous round, this was a statement win from Muchová. Her exquisite shotmaking skills are well known — and her volleys and slices have long marked her out as a player who should thrive on grass — but this was also an exhibition of doing the basics well. She served beautifully and frequently outlasted Osaka from the back of the court.

Having never even reached the fourth round of Wimbledon previously, this has still been an extremely positive tournament for Osaka, 28. She has proved to herself that there’s no reason she can’t be a threat on the surface, having improved her movement and adapted her groundstrokes to be even more imperious on the low-bouncing courts.

It was apparent straight away that this was going to be a very different match from Sunday’s win over the world No. 1. Osaka wasn’t broken all match against Sabalenka and only faced two break points throughout, here she lost her first two service games (while also winning both of Muchová’s).

Sabalenka is peerless when it comes to power, but no one on the tour volleys and glides around the court like Muchová. She serve-and-volleyed eight times in the first set and won six of those points. A crucial difference from Sabalenka as well was how much better able Muchová was to diffuse Osaka’s serve. Muchová’s ability to hit slices and blocked returns off either wing kept returning Osaka to neutral in rallies, in a way that Sabalenka had been singularly unable to do. Against Sabalenka, Osaka won 87 percent of first serve points; against Muchová, she was at 67 percent.

After that flurry of early breaks, the players settled and there were no more in the set, with Osaka able to fend one off serving down 3-2 with a big serve. Osaka had a break point herself at 5-5, but Muchová saved it with a brilliant forehand winner off a strong first serve.

Muchová is known for playing the kind of tennis that has purists and former players purring about her game, but she was matching that here with doing the less glamorous parts of the game extremely well. In the tiebreak, she opened up a lead with some solid hitting from the baseline and a strong unreturned first serve.

Forty percent of Muchová’s first serves in the first set didn’t come back, compared to 33 percent for her opponent. It was providing Muchová with the platform to do the flashier stuff she’s known for, like the forehand winner she caressed into the corner to take the first set.

In the second set, it was Muchová who was pushing for the break, but Osaka was just about able to fend her off. Eventually the pressure paid though, and after a sequence of Osaka hitting ace, double fault, ace, double fault, she made a complete mess of an overhead and that was all Muchová needed.

She’s had struggles closing matches before — not least in her previous match against Barbora Krejčíková when she was broken trying to serve it out — but here she was nerveless. A sixth ace set up three match points, and a seventh duly followed to wrap up the win.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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