No. 1 seed Karolina Muchova suffered a surprise defeat in the Linz semifinal and failed to make her first final of the year.
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In the second semifinal of the WTA 500 tournament in Linz, the top seed didn't have a good day at the office as world No. 30 and No. 4 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova claimed a 6-0 6-4 win in an hour and 13 minutes of play.
Throughout the match, the Czech struggled on her serve and ended up dropping her service four times.
On the other side, Muchova also missed out on all of her four break pointopportunities.
But while the Czech was definitely the favorite to win this match, the truth is that Alexandrova has never been an easy opponent for her, considering that the Russian entered their match with a 3-1 head-to-head record.
Now, the world No. 30 has four wins and one loss in her meetings against the 2023 French Open finalist.
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On Sunday, Alexandrova will battle against No. 5 seed Dayana Yastremska for the Linz title.
Earlier today, the Ukrainian beat eighth-seeded Clara Tauson 6-1 6-4 in the first semifinal of the day.
How Alexandrova overcame Muchova?
In the first set, the No. 1 seed lost her serve three times but also failed to convert break points in two separate games - the Czech missed out on two break points in the second game and also didn't realize a break point in the sixth game.
After getting bageled in the first set, the former world No. 8 held on to her opening two service games in the second set and then also had a break point for a 3-1 lead - but once again didn't convert.
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A couple of games later, the punishment came for Muchova as Alexandrova earned the first break of the second set in the seventh game.
Up by a set and having a 5-4 second-set lead, the fourth-seeded Russian didn't miss out on the opportunity to close out the match on her serve and complete a two-set win.
