No. 26 seed Nikola Bartunkova reached the first WTA 1000 semifinal of her career on Thursday, defeating No. 7 Karolina Muchova 6-3, 6-0 in 67 minutes at the China Open.

In an inter-generational matchup of Czech compatriots who train at Prague’s Štvanice club, the 20-year-old Bartunkova won the first five and final seven games against the 30-year-old Muchova. It was her third career win over a Top 10 opponent, following victories over Belinda Bencic at the Australian Open and Aryna Sabalenka in the third round in Beijing. Bartunkova had previously reached tour-level semifinals in Guadalajara in 2025 and Monterrey in 2026.

Bartunkova, who ended 2025 ranked No. 130 and has climbed to No. 34 this week, will make her Top 30 debut following Beijing. She will bid to reach her first career final against No. 4 seed Mirra Andreeva, who narrowly escaped No. 19 Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-6(4), 7-6(3)

Despite her steep upward trajectory in 2026, Bartunkova’s run in Beijing has taken her by surprise.

“For sure [I didn’t expect it] before this tournament,” she said in her press conference. “I played lot of practices with top players — [iga] Swiatek, [Coco] Gauff, others. Maybe it helps little bit. [It] was one week before the tournament. I tried to play a lot of practices, lot of matches. I think that was the reason I had good preparation for this tournament. So yeah, I had confidence. But honestly I didn’t expect these results.”

How did Bartunkova pull off the upset?

As Bartunkova has risen through the rankings this year, her combination of power and touch has drawn frequent comparisons to Muchova herself. Ahead of their first meeting, the question was whether Muchova’s greater experience — particularly during the most consistent season of her career, which has included titles in Doha and Bad Homburg and a second Grand Slam final at Wimbledon — would give her the edge.

“I follow her a lot,” said Bartunkova of Muchova. “I have also similar style like her, playing lot of drop shots, volleys. I like her because she’s also a great human being.”

Off court, there was respect. On court, Bartunkova didn’t permit Muchova to get her game going. The younger player has every shot in the book, and a first-strike mentality to use them as quickly as possible in the point. She broke in the second game with four consecutive returns fired deep at Muchova’s feet, drawing an error each time. In the fourth game, she used her drop shot as an audacious plus-one winner en route to breaking again.

The drop shot was also the setup for Bartunkova’s two best points of the match — a stretch backhand volley as she moved up 4-0 in the first set, and a perfect volleyed lob at the same stage of the second.

Intent on being the first to break open each point, Bartunkova did not let herself get drawn into extended rallies and within 20 minutes led 5-0.

“Today I was really aggressive,” she said. “I [wasn’t] very nervous. Yeah, try to put my best tennis. I did it.”

What were Muchova’s best chances to turn the match around?

At 5-0 in the first set, Bartunkova was in such complete command that she even pulled off an absurd backhand slice winner that caught Muchova off guard yet again. But a handful of forehand errors allowed Muchova to get on the board, and closing out the set proved a tricky task.

Bartunkova has squandered a number of significant leads this summer — 6-2, 4-0 against Sabalenka in Berlin; 5-1 in the third set and four match points against Lanlana Tararudee in Prague; 4-2 in the third set against Amanda Anisimova in Toronto; 6-1, 3-0 against Elise Mertens in Monterrey. Surely aware of that pattern, Muchova played her most aggressive tennis to claw back three games and fend off five set points.

But the gulf was too much to make up — and, as Bartunkova said, her nerves didn’t come into play. Up a sixth set point, Muchova offered up a drop shot that landed closer to the service line than the net, and Bartunkova stayed calm to swat it away for a winner.

There were no similar chances in the second set. Bartunkova leapt out to an early lead again and this time didn’t let up, tallying 19 winners to Muchova’s 12. Muchova faded in the home stretch as her unforced error count reached 37.