Naomi Osaka has won four Grand Slam singles titles in her career – two at the Australian Open and two at the US Open. The Japanese star is now one step away from reaching the first grass-court final of her career after a stunning straight-sets win over Ekaterina Alexandrova at the Bad Homburg Open on Thursday.
Alexandrova, who had defeated Roland Garros champion Mira Andreeva in the previous round, earned the first break of the match in the third game and took a 2–1 lead in the opening set. Osaka responded strongly and broke serve three times in a row to take the set 6-2 to extend her eight-game winning streak.
Osaka maintained her focus and composure during the second set and won 6-2, 6-2 in just 59 minutes.
Here are some highlights from Osaka’s win:
First career top-20 win on grass
The win over 19th-ranked Alexandrova was Osaka’s 49th career win against a top-20 opponent, but her first on grass. Earlier, she had lost all her eight matches against top-20 players.
The result sent Osaka into her first semifinal of the season and her first since the 2025 US Open.
Second career grass-court semi-final
Osaka has now reached the semi-finals of a tour-level grass-court event for only the second time in her career. His previous appearance at that stage came in 2018 in Nottingham (lost to Ash Barty).
“I think I just keep trying to move forward and my goal is to play a lot of matches before I do that, so hopefully I can keep moving forward,” Osaka said after her win. “Obviously I can’t say I have a lot of experience on grass, but I feel really good right now. Tomas (coach) is helping me understand the grass more, so I’m feeling quite comfortable at the moment.”
Osaka dominates in break point and ace count
Osaka converted four of the seven break points she earned on Alexandrova serve. She faced only two break points on her serve and saved one of them.
He also hit seven aces in the win. Osaka also hit the seven aces she hit in her previous round win over Elise Mertens and has hit a total of 15 aces for the tournament.
Next: First meeting with Wang Xinyu
Osaka will face China’s Wang Xinyu for a place in the final. Wang advanced after receiving a walkover from Elina Svitolina, who withdrew due to a right hip injury.
The semi-finals will be the first career meeting between Osaka and Wang.
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