Iga Swiatek back in the semis of Bad Homburg

 

No. 4 seed Iga Swiatek will bid to reach the first grass-court final of her career at the Bad Homburg Open against No. 2 Jasmine Paolini. The pair set a rematch of the 2024 Roland Garros title match after similar tight two-set wins in the quarterfinals. Paolini came through 7-5, 7-5 against Beatriz Haddad Maia, and Swiatek followed on the Spielbank Bad Homburg Centre Court with a 6-4, 7-6(5) defeat of No. 8 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova.

Can Swiatek stay perfect against Paolini? Swiatek will seek to preserve a perfect record against Paolini to date. She currently leads the head-to-head against the Italian 4-0 -- though this will be the first time they have met on grass, and the first time they have met with Paolini as the higher-ranked player. Moreover, their most recent encounter in the semifinals of last year's Billie Jean King Cup Finals suggested that Paolini was getting closer to a win.

In their first three meetings -- in the second round of a Prague ITF W80 in 2018 and the 2022 US Open first round, as well as their Roland Garros final -- Paolini mustered just nine games combined, three in each encounter. On the indoor hard courts of Malaga last November, she pushed Swiatek all the way in a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 loss.

Swiatek navigates tricky conditions and tough opponent: "I already lost against her, so I knew she could make amazing tennis," Swiatek said of Alexandrova after coming through against the 30-year-old, a two-time grass-court titlist. "For sure, her flat shots fit really well on the grass."

The serve proved the most crucial aspect of the game for both players. The match opened with three consecutive breaks, but after that neither player conceded their delivery for the rest of the match. Both saved all three break points they faced in the second set -- Alexandrova in two separate games, and Swiatek digging herself out of a 0-40 hole to hold for 2-2. In total, Alexandrova won 71% of her first-serve points and Swiatek 75%.

In the end, the match came down to a handful of key moments. Having exchanged breaks in the first two games, Swiatek nudged ahead for 2-1 as Alexandrova sent a forehand wide, and held that lead for the rest of the opening set. At 4-4 in the second-set tiebreak, she thumped a forehand winner into the corner to take control.

The former World No. 1 also kept her focus by doing crosswords during a lengthy rain delay serving down 4-3, at deuce, in the second set.

"Today, it was all about adjusting to the conditions, because it was super windy for most of the match," Swiatek said afterwards. "We both tried to do what we can -- on the one hand, be intense, but on the other hand play it safe."

Swiatek advances to her second career grass-court semifinal, both of which have come in Bad Homburg, where she also made the last four in 2023.

"I just love these small tournaments," she said. "It feels like we're one big family just enjoying tennis. I would play tournaments like this every week if I could, without all the unnecessary fuss and everything."

wtatennis.com

 Another very impressive win over a very experienced grass court player in very tricky windy conditions.

The serve has been a life saver for Iga this entire tournament. 

Paolini next in the semis where Iga is 4-0 H2H but Paolini has great skills at net with all her doubles experience so definitely won't be easy. 

Win or lose I hope Iga treats the match as an opportunity to implement things her and Wim have been working on. 

And you can tell she worked hard because it's really showing in her performances.  

Iga Swiatek off and running on the grass in Bad Homburg

Iga Swiatek scored her first win of the grass-court season at the Bad Homburg Open on Tuesday by topping Victoria Azarenka in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4.

Competing for the first time in nearly three weeks -- since her 26-match Roland Garros winning streak ended at the hands of Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals -- the fourth seed rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the opening set to beat Azarenka for the fifth straight time.

Swiatek recognized the importance of overcoming a slow start against Azarenka, also a former No. 1, who came through qualifying and defeated German Laura Siegemund in the first round.

Swiatek finished the match with four breaks of Azarenka's serve, and hit 25 winners and six aces.

“The first few games, I thought I was playing really well, and I had opportunities to break her, but I didn’t,” Swiatek said. “I kind of got maybe less intense, but I wanted to keep doing what I know I can do, and at the end, it was a great match.

“It was my first match on grass this year, actually having byes in these tournaments is not always a great thing because I want to play on grass as much as possible right now, but I’m really happy that I’m through to the next round.”

The win was also notable in that it was the 300th match-win of Swiatek's career.

Swiatek will face the winner of Wednesday's second-round match between No. 8 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova and wild card Maria Sakkari in the quarterfinals.

wtatennis.com

First outing on the grass for Iga this season and an excellent one at that. Aces, slice forehands, volley's and great returns. 

I was especially impressed with the serve over all. 

Didn't appreciate Azarenka making drama out of nothing (something about re-tossing the ball too much before serving (which she literally did herself a game prior). 

Correcting your ball toss is perfectly within the rules. Someone was just feeling a bit bitter about losing if you ask me (especially given that Iga's H2H with Vika is now 5-0).

Next opponent could be tricky, Sakkari would certainly make it physical whereas Alexandrova  could just hit a bunch of shots down the line preventing any rallies. 

But neither one is in any particular form so I'd say it's a real 50/50. 

Iga has nothing but points and time on the grass to gain so she can just play freely. 

Every win on grass is a bonus towards getting back to the top of the top 10. 

So we take it one match at a time.




 

Iga Swiatek withdraws from Bad Homburg semis due to food poisoning

No.1 seed Iga Swiatek has withdrawn from her Bad Homburg Open semifinal against Lucia Bronzetti, citing GI illness, the tournament announced Friday.

"I'm so sorry but I have to pull out of my match today," Swiatek said in a statement. "I had a restless night because of some fever and possible food poisoning. I'm not able to perform today and I need to take care of myself. I hope I'll be fine soon. Your support in Bad Homburg was amazing, thank you."

Swiatek had defeated opponents including Wimbledon semifinalist Tatjana Maria and No.9 seed Anna Blinkova to reach her first grass-court semifinal in Bad Homburg.

Read more: 2023 Wimbledon seeds: Inside the numbers

Having captured her fourth Grand Slam title at Roland Garros last month, she will carry a 10-match winning streak into Wimbledon next week, where she opens up against Zhu Lin.

wtatennis.com

Well damn. I was really looking forward to this, Iga had a real chance of grabbing her first grass court title. 

Hopefully it really is just a case of bad food poisoning and she'll be ok in a few days. 

Of course many people think she's faking it in order to get a few extra days rest before Wimbledon. 

While there may be some truth to her wanting more rest before a Grand Slam, I believe she really wanted this title and wouldn't have withdrawn if she were able to play. 

It's just not in her nature to give opponents walkovers. The very fact that this is her first ever WTA match withdraw is proof of that. 

Hopefully we'll get more information on Iga's physical health at tomorrow's Wimbledon presser. 

Fingers crossed she feels better. 

Sending a prayer to the tennis gods for a speedy recovery for the World #1.

Iga Swiatek on a 10 match win streak moves into Bad Homburg semis

 

World No.1 Iga Swiatek continues to break new ground on grass. The three-time French Open champion advanced to the first grass-court semifinal of her career after defeating Anna Blinkova 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the Bad Homburg Open.

Swiatek will face Italy's Lucia Bronzetti next for a spot in her first grass-court final.

Playing her first tournament since her successful title defense at Roland Garros, Swiatek's victory over Blinkova extended her current win streak to 10 matches. Making her Bad Homburg debut, Swiatek dropped her first set against Tatjana Maria in her opening match but has lost just 11 games across six sets since.

"I'm happy that I can play such solid tennis," Swiatek said. "Usually, there's not much time to practice on grass so I'm pretty happy that I used that time 100 percent between Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

"I'm happy that I'm feeling confident and hopefully I can play like that for the next two weeks."


In her first meeting against Blinkova, Swiatek eased through her opening service games before breaking for a 4-2 lead in the first set. Serving at 75 percent first serves in for the match, Swiatek went unbroken for her sixth consecutive set in Bad Homburg.

Swiatek finished the 72-minute match with a remarkably clean stat sheet, hitting 24 winners to just seven unforced errors. Blinkova, who broke through to make the Round of 16 at Roland Garros earlier this month, finished with seven winners to 13 unforced errors.

"I wouldn't put myself close to being an expert on grass, but I'm making progress and that's the most important thing for me," Swiatek said. "The time here really helped me. Every year I feel like it's easier to get used to the conditions."

Swiatek will face No.65 Lucia Bronzetti in the semifinals on Friday. The 24-year-old Italian advanced to her first grass-court semifinal after defeating France's Varvara Gracheva 6-4, 6-3.

The second semifinal will feature No.60 Emma Navarro, who advanced to her first tour-level semifinal after Rebaka Masarova was forced to retire due to knee injury after leading 7-6(2), 1-1. The 22-year-old American will face either No.2 seed Liudmila Samsonova or Katerina Siniakova.

After splitting the first two sets, Samsonova and Siniakova saw their quarterfinal suspended due to light. That match will resume on Friday.

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Iga Swiatek makes first career quarter-final on grass in Bad Homburg

World No.1 Iga Swiatek advanced to her first-career grass-court quarterfinal after defeating Switzerland's Jil Teichmann 6-3, 6-1 in the Round of 16 at the Bad Homburg Open.

Swiatek will next face Anna Blinkova.

The key game came early for Swiatek, who saved three break points in her opening service game to come through an 18-point game and hold. Teichmann did not see another break point until Swiatek's final service game of the match.

"I think it's my first grass-court quarterfinal, so pretty excited," Swiatek said on court. "For sure, today was a good day. I was happy with my performance. I felt like I had everything under control and that's great."

After fighting off break points in the opening set, Swiatek earned her first chance to break three games later. She converted, breaking Teichmann for a 3-2 lead with a well-struck tweener. With a break in hand, Swiatek cruised for the remainder of the match by controlling the baseline and keeping the Swiss on the run.

Serving for her ninth consecutive victory at 6-3, 5-1, Swiatek coolly saved two break points from 15-40 down to close out the match in 79 minutes. She finished with 14 winners to 16 unforced errors and saved all five break points she faced. Since getting broken to lose the opening set of her tournament to Tatjana Maria, Swiatek has not been broken. She has lost just six games across those four sets.

"It's getting easier every year to convert my clay-court style to more grass-court style," Swiatek said. "I think it will come with experience. I have a coach who knows how to coach players who are good on grass court like Aga Radwanska, so I'm pretty positive about my future on grass."

Swiatek will next face No.39 Blinkova, who defeated Leylah Fernandez 7-5, 6-2. It will be the first meeting between the two.

In earlier results, Italy's Lucia Bronzetti came from a set down to defeat Mayar Sherif 1-6, 7-6(2), 6-3 to advance to her first grass-court quarterfinal. Bronzetti will face France's Varvara Gracheva.

The remaining quarterfinals will see No.2 seed Liudmila Samsonova take on Katerina Siniakova and Spain's Rebeka Masarova will face Emma Navarro.

wtatennis.com

Step by step Iga is definitely figuring this whole grass thing out. 

An even more solid performance than her previous match. 

You could actually see her confidence growing through her shots as the match went on. 

She's also showing real patience in point construction on grass which is great. 

Jazda Iga!

 

Iga Swiatek starts grass season off with a win in Bad Homburg

World No.1 Iga Swiatek won her first grass-court match of the season after coming back to defeat 2022 Wimbledon semifinalist Tatjana Maria 5-7, 6-2, 6-0 in the first round of the Bad Homburg Open. The victory is Swiatek's eighth consecutive win and moves her season record to a tour-leading 36-6.

Swiatek will play Switzerland's Jil Teichmann in the second round.

Match notes: In her first competitive appearance since winning her second Roland Garros title two weeks ago, Swiatek was made to work in her Bad Homburg debut. After earning a break advantage early in the opening set to serve at 4-3, 40-30, Swiatek lost her rhythm to give Maria a foothold in the match. Three consecutive unforced errors allowed Maria to level the set at 4-4, and the German mother of two held her serve with ease to lead 5-4.

Using her backhand slice with tactical efficiency, Maria continued to flummox Swiatek, drawing errors from the World No.1. She broke Swiatek for a second time to seal the opening set.

Swiatek has been open about her learning curve on grass. Despite winning the Wimbledon girl's title in 2018, grass remains the only surface on which she has yet to win a Hologic WTA Tour title. Wimbledon is the only major at which she has yet to make it past the Round of 16.

Given the opportunity to doubt her game after losing the first set, Swiatek responded by losing just two games for the rest of the match.

"She has a different game style and at the beginning it was tricky," Swiatek said. "But I'm pretty glad that I figured it out because I guess problem-solving on grass is the most important thing.

"So I really just wanted to look forward and thank what I could change. I know I have the game for that. I just had to find it a little bit."

Turning point: Swiatek opened the second set by winning the first nine points, building a 2-0 lead that she would not relinquish. Her improved aggression paid off quickly, as she won 31 of the 46 points in the second set to force a decider. That momentum continued in the third, where she won 25 of the 35 points played to dish out her third-ever 6-0 set on grass.

Key stats: Despite losing the opening set, Swiatek served 82 percent of first serves in. She did not face a break point in the second and third sets.

The match was just her sixth three-set match of the season. She is now 4-2 in third sets this season. Her 6-0 final set is her 15th of the year.

Next up: Swiatek will face Teichmann for a second time in their careers. The Swiss advanced after a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Claire Liu in the first round. Swiatek won their first meeting 6-3, 6-2 en route to the 2021 Adelaide title. A victory would boost Swiatek into her first tour-level quarterfinal on grass.

wtatennis.com

A very solid first grass win of the season. You can already see huge improvements compared to last year. 

Iga is learning to problem solve instead of just fighting. Very impressive serve as well.  

And good mental toughness coming from a set down on her least favourite surface. 

Pluses all around.

On to the next one. Jazda!