Karolína Muchová defeats Naomi Osaka after nine match points — Interia Sport

Czech tennis player Karolína Muchová reached the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing, China, after defeating Japan’s Naomi Osaka 7:5, 1:6, 7:6(7). The fourth-round match on the Lotus Court ended after Muchová converted her ninth match point.

As Interia Sport reports, Osaka’s coach Tomasz Wiktorowski watched the match from the stands. It was the Japanese player’s third meeting with Muchová this year: she also lost to the Czech player in the two previous encounters, with one of the matches ending due to a retirement.

Muchová’s comeback in the first set

At the start of the match, Osaka took a 3:0 lead and later went up 4:1. Muchová erased the deficit, earned another break in the ninth game and, at 5:4, was unable to serve out the set immediately. However, the Czech player again won a game on her opponent’s serve and closed out the set 7:5.

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In the second set, Osaka once again quickly moved ahead 3:0. In the fifth game, Muchová had three break points while receiving at 40:0, but the Japanese player held serve. After that, Osaka won two more games and levelled the match in sets at 6:1.

The tiebreak decided the match

In the deciding set, Osaka led 3:1 after a break, but Muchová restored parity. At 5:4, the Czech player had five match points on her opponent’s serve, but Osaka saved them and took the set to a tiebreak. Muchová earned new match points at 6:4 in the tiebreak and used her ninth chance to finish the match.

In the quarterfinals, Muchová will play Sinja Kraus or Nikola Bartůňková. According to the publication, after the victory her lead over Iga Świątek in the virtual standings of the race for a place at the 2026 WTA Finals stands at 911 points.