Top seed Karolina Muchova held her nerve Friday at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz to reach her first semifinal of the season, defeating No. 6 seed and former champion Anastasia Potapova in a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 quarterfinal that lasted more than two hours. 

Linz: Scores | Draws | Order of play

Sidelined after wrist surgery at this time last year, the 2023 Roland Garros finalist has now reached the semifinals or better in five of the 11 tournaments she's played since returning to the tour last June. But to do it in her Linz debut, Muchova needed 2 hours and 10 minutes to finally finish off the 2023 winner, who responded admirably to dropping the first set and later had three break point chances in the match's final game that would've extended the contest.

"It was a very tough match. She played really great. I lost a bit of focus in the second set, and she just took a chance," Muchova said afterwards. "I'm glad I managed it. Even the last game, it could've gone either way if she broke me. 

"I was just thinking where I was going to serve ... to serve it out. I just really wanted to finish it. I was just trying to be focused, and the serve in the last game really helped me."

Muchova also saved four break points in the last game of the first set before serving things out -- and clutch serving defined the match for the World No. 19. She saved 11 of the 12 break points she faced in all, served nine aces, and won 71% of the points played behind her first serve.

For a spot in her seventh career Hologic WTA Tour final, Muchova will face No. 4 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, a two-time Linz finalist. Last year's runner-up hammered more than 50 minutes in a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 comeback against qualifier Petra Martic, who herself was runner-up to Potapova two years ago.

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Alexandrova was 0-2 against Martic previously, but saved 13 of the 14 break points she faced -- including all 11 combined in sets two and three -- to advance.

"It was difficult to start against her because she's quite a skilled player, there are a lot of slices and drop shots and everything," she said. "It's kind of difficult to get used to, but I think in the second set I found the rhythm and I tried to keep it for the whole match. I ran a lot today, but I think that's good. It was a great match from me and I'm really happy with the result today."

No. 5 seed Dayana Yastremska and No. 8 seed Clara Tauson will play in the other semifinal after both secured straight-set quarterfinal victories.

Yastremska won eight games in a row from 5-5 in the first set -- after saving two break points at 4-4 -- to upset No. 3 seed Maria Sakkari 7-5, 6-0, while in-form Auckland champion Tauson improved to 10-1 this year with a 6-4, 6-3 triumph over unseeded Anna Blinkova, who had upset No. 2 seed Elina Svitolina in the second round.