Dominant Osaka eases past Alexandrova into Bad Homburg semis, Muchova advances

[p]The Japanese sixth seed won [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/alexandrova-e-dzbgeEFF/osaka-n-MDM4BKiA/?mid=d2RaSKd2"]6-2, 6-2 in just 59 minutes[/a] to reach the final four of the grass-court tournament just days out from the start of Wimbledon.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/osaka-naomi/MDM4BKiA/"]Osaka[/a], the world number 15, is one win away from a first grass-court final of her career.[/p][p][b]"Obviously, I can't say that I've had much experience on grass, but I feel really good right now,"[/b] Osaka said, adding that coach Tomas Wiktorowski, who started working with her last July, [b]"is helping me understand grass a lot more, so I feel pretty comfortable at this point."[/b][/p][p]Osaka was broken early in the opening set but swiftly struck back against the unseeded Russian.[/p][image alt="Key match stats" id="8a9703f1-7a93-4906-8fb4-8006b9f8ead7" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="04cb058e-43ea-4667-836a-984d3cfddcac" original-width="1080" original-height="1080" /][p]Osaka won eight straight games - a run which included 15 points in a row - as she took the opening set and ran out to a 3-0 lead in the second.[/p][p]The 19th-ranked [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/alexandrova-ekaterina/dzbgeEFF/"]Alexandrova[/a] rallied to win her next two service games, but Osaka closed out the match in just under an hour.[/p][p]Osaka will play Chinese world number 52 [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/wang-xinyu-2001/8jMJmh84/"]Wang Xinyu[/a], who reached the final four when eighth-ranked Ukrainian [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/monfils-elina/jyngIesG/"]Elina Svitolina[/a] pulled out, citing exhaustion on Wednesday.[/p][h2]Muchova advances[/h2][p]Fourth seed [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/muchova-karolina/Or4Qa1ye/"]Karolina Muchova[/a] also made the last four after coming from a set down to beat [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/tauson-clara/2PPTHPya/"]Dane Clara Tauson[/a] [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/muchova-k-Or4Qa1ye/tauson-c-2PPTHPya/?mid=AD1cUSUh"]1-6, 6-2, 6-4[/a] on Thursday.[/p][embed guid="2c5ca009-b429-4f6d-b598-aeaa37aad04e" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5l9_ADv0WU" social-type="youtube" /][p]Tauson exploded out of the gates and broke the world number 11 three times while dropping just one game in the opening set.[/p][p]Muchova returned the favour in the second, breaking Tauson three times to set up a deciding set, which she won to take the match in two hours and three minutes.[/p][p]The Czech will face off against Romania's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ruse-elena-gabriela/ra7IoKGO/"]Elena Gabriel Ruse[/a] in the semi-finals. Ruse beat American [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/navarro-emma/WxLdKcAs/"]Emma Navarro[/a] [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/navarro-e-WxLdKcAs/ruse-g-ra7IoKGO/?mid=hbx0sT0J"]6-4, 6-2[/a] in one hour and 15 minutes on Thursday.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/tennis/wta-singles/bad-homburg/"]Follow all the action from Bad Homburg here.[/a][/b][/p]