Karolina Muchová dug out of a 1-6 opening set against Clara Tauson on Thursday in Bad Homburg, then flipped the quarterfinal and moved into her first grass-court semifinal with a 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 win. The No. 4 seed was down from the first game and finished it just over two hours later with an ace.
Muchová said she started “a little bit slow,” and the numbers matched the feeling: she produced only two winners in a 29-minute first set before collecting 35 of her 37 winners across the final two sets. Tauson, by contrast, kept landing shots and still left with more total points, 82 to 79, even after Muchová converted both break points she earned in the final set.
That was the difference in a match played in 96-degree heat, where the heat rule was triggered and the conditions changed the rhythm for both players. Muchová won 72% of her first-serve points, while Tauson won 73%, and both players held exactly 37% of their second-serve points. Each broke serve five times, but Muchová found a sharper lane late, while Tauson could not fully protect the lead she had built in the opening set.
Muchová was not just chasing points. She was also chasing the match after Tauson broke her earlier when she was serving at 5-2 in the final set, then again forced her to serve it out a second time at 5-4. Tauson had one last opening there too, but Muchová closed with the ace that ended it. The comeback was not clean, and it was not dominant. It was enough.
That leaves Muchová in the Bad Homburg semifinal, where she will face Elena-Gabriela Ruse after Ruse upset Emma Navarro 6-4, 6-2 in 1 hour and 15 minutes. Ruse had entered that match 0-3 against Navarro and had not won a set in their previous three meetings, but she still delivered her third straight Top 25 win and reached her second WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz semifinal of the season. For Muchová, the task now is simpler and tougher at once: carry the same calm through the next match, even if the weather does not.
Muchová made the turnaround sound almost basic afterward. She said Tauson was playing fast and striking the ball well, but after being passive early, she turned it around. In a day when the heat made every reset feel heavier, that adjustment was the story.
