Karolina Muchova beat Coco Gauff 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in Stuttgart on Friday to reach the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix semifinals and hand the World No. 3 a quarterfinal exit. Muchova, the No. 4 seed, earned her first win in seven meetings with Gauff and will face Elina Svitolina next.
Muchova took control early when Gauff double-faulted to give her a 2-1 lead in the opening set, then closed it out by breaking in the final game after Gauff piled up 13 forehand unforced errors. She dropped serve at 5-5 in the second set, but broke Gauff for the fifth and final time to move ahead 4-2 in the third before saving three break points in the next game.
The result sent Muchova to her fourth semifinal of 2026 and kept Gauff from getting past the Stuttgart quarterfinals, a hurdle she had not cleared before. It was the first clay-court meeting between the two, and Muchova said before the match that Gauff is an “unbelievable player on clay” and that she knew she would need to play extremely well to have a chance. Afterward, she said she tried to use her variety to break Gauff’s rhythm, adding that it was working on the day.
Svitolina reached the last four with a 7-6, 7-5 win over Linda Noskova, landing 70% of her first serves and hitting 11 aces. She said her serve kept her in the match and that she was pleased to adjust to the quicker clay-court conditions. Muchova and Svitolina have met three times before, with Svitolina winning their last meeting in three sets in the Miami third round last year. They have never played each other on clay, which gives the semifinal a different look than their previous meetings. For Muchova, the next test is another one that has already gone against her once; for Gauff, the loss leaves Stuttgart still unfinished business.
Muchova’s run now carries into a semifinal that asks the same question her win over Gauff answered: whether variety and patience can still disrupt a cleaner power game on clay when the margins get tighter.
