Muchova reaches first Roland Garros semi-final

Karolina Muchova reached her first French Open semi-final with a straight-set victory over former finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

She edged a tense, hour-long opening set that featured five breaks of serve before winning the second comfortably.

Muchova will face the winner of Tuesday’s second quarter-final in Paris between Elina Svitolina and world number two Aryna Sabalenka.

Pavyluchenkova, who has dropped to 333 in the world after a serious knee injury last year, reached the final at Roland Garros in 2021, losing to Barbora Krejcikova.

Her hopes of repeating that run were ended by a fine display from Muchova, 26, who broke the Russian’s serve five times.

“It’s been an incredible two weeks and I’m just glad I’m still in the competition,” Muchova said in her on-court interview.