Japan’s Naomi Osaka, the sixth seed at the Bad Homburg Open in Germany, made quick work of Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova on Thursday, posting a 6-2, 6-2 victory in just 60 minutes. Osaka fired seven aces and was nearly perfect on first-serve points, winning 16 of 17 — a remarkable 94.1 percent clip — while also converting five of seven break point opportunities.
Osaka’s next opponent will be China’s Wang Xinyu, who advanced to the semifinals without playing after No. 3 seed Elina Svitolina pulled out of the tournament Wednesday due to a right hip injury.
In the other semifinal matchup, Romanian qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse stormed back to defeat Emma Navarro 6-4, 6-2, winning the final five games of the match. The result puts Ruse’s career record against Navarro at 1-3. Navarro had made headlines a day earlier by knocking out top-seeded Iga Swiatek of Poland.
Ruse will face fourth-seeded Czech player Karolina Muchova, who rallied from a rough first set to defeat Denmark’s Clara Tauson 1-6, 6-2, 6-4. Muchova was dominant once she found her footing, racking up 35 of her 37 total winners across the final two sets.
At the Lexus Eastbourne Open in England, American second seed Madison Keys dominated compatriot McCartney Kessler, the seventh seed, winning 6-3, 6-1 in an all-American quarterfinal matchup. Keys converted 27 of 30 first-serve points — 90 percent — and closed out the match in 72 minutes after winning seven consecutive games and eight of the last nine.
Keys will next take on Croatia’s Petra Marcinko, who eliminated Caty McNally in a three-set battle, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, the third seed, was equally impressive, defeating Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez 6-3, 6-0 with a 9-2 ace advantage. Ostapenko overcame five double faults of her own, while Sonmez struggled on serve, landing just 20 of 43 first-serve attempts — a 46.5 percent success rate.
Ostapenko advances to face Germany’s Tatjana Maria in the semifinals. Maria earned her spot with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Czech player Tereza Valentova.
