Jessica Pegula calmly picked her way through the draw at the Bad Homburg Open to take the title.
This year’s tournament provided a great showcase for the WTA, with tantalising match ups in each round producing quality tennis. On offer was the best and most fan-appealing field so far in its five editions – the 2025 draw included Świątek, Paolini, Osaka, Bencic, Fernandez, Vekic, Andreeva, Svitolina and No.1 seed Pegula.
It soon became apparent that this year the tournament would present a new champion, since none of the previous four champions would be contenders. Aside from Angelique Kerber (2021) who retired after the Olympics last year, and was also absent from her ambassadorial role at Bad Homburg due to being only a few days away from the birth of her second child – Caroline Garcia (2022) retired at Queens; Kateřina Siniaková (2023) had to play qualifying this year then lost to Pegula in the first round in straight sets after needing treatment on her hamstring; and Diana Shnaider (2024) was also out in the first round.
The match between defending champion Shnaider and Donna Vekic was a replay of the 2024 final, albeit with a different outcome. Earlier this year, the two played an enthralling 181-minute battle at the Australian Open, which Vekic eventually won 7-6(4) 6-7(3) 7-5.
They next met in Berlin where Shnaider won 2 & 4. Less than a week later in Bad Homburg, it was Vekic’s turn, 3 & 3.
But in the second round she lost to Linda Nosková, 2-6 6-2 4-6 meaning that neither of last year’s finalists would appear in this year’s final.
That second day of Round 2 turned out to be nine and a half hours of premium tennis – four thrilling three set matches, won by Nosková, Beatriz Haddad Maia, Ekaterina Alexandrova and Mirra Andreeva. These players also beat the heat of 33°C plus oppressive humidity. It was so hot that the girls who perform as the tournament’s squirrel mascots – the red squirrel is native to Bad Homburg – had to put packs of ice cubes inside their costumes.
In 2023, the only other time Iga Świątek played Bad Homburg, she pulled out before her semi, citing possible food poisoning.
This year, after a first round bye, she secured her 300th career win when she beat two-time slam winner, now a qualifier, Victoria Azarenka, 6-4 6-4. The same fate awaited 8th seed Alexandrova in the quarterfinals, with a slight variation of the score, 6-4 7-6(5). During the second set, rain caused play to be suspended before a severe storm warning caused an evacuation of the stadium lasting an hour, although no storm transpired. While waiting for play to resume, Świątek occupied herself doing crosswords in the historic club house.
Jasmine Paolini was one of the favourites to win the event. Certainly, her second round match against Leila Fernandez was worthy of a final and could lay claim to being the finest match in Bad Homburg this year – 152 minutes of twists and turns that delivered the skills of the players at their best.
After their contest, Paolini said, “I don’t give up on a single ball. My fighting spirit must be so big because I’m so small.”
The Italian then defeated Haddad Maia prior to her semi with Świątek. Her fighting spirit was again evident but was not enough to overcome the Pole. Although some of Paolini’s shots were so good that the Polish fans couldn’t help but cheer, Świątek was able to cramp most of her style to win 6-1 6-3 and extend her head-to-head lead to 5-0.
Following her bye and defeat of Siniaková, Pegula’s path to the final was wins over Emma Navarro 6-4 1-6 6-3 and Nosková, 6-7(2) 7-5 6-1.
The final threw up many possible variables.
Although Świątek led their head-to-head overall, Pegula had won three of their last five meetings.
When they last played, in the quarters of the 2024 US Open, Pegula won in straight sets.
Świątek has won her last nine finals, but the most recent was over a year ago in Roland Garros.
She had never played a grass final before whereas Pegula won the WTA 500 in Berlin last year.
And they had never faced each other on grass before.
Świątek started with a double fault but held and the match progressed to 3-3 on serve with hard fought games where both players held break points. In the seventh game, Pegula earned three opportunities to break and converted the third, assisted by the errors coming off Swiatek’s racquet.
As the steadier player, Pegula took the set 6-4.
In contrast to the opening set, Świątek opened the second with an ace and held her first two service games to love. At 5-5, still on serve, she found herself facing breakpoints. Having saved the first to get to deuce, she faltered on the next, and lost serve at the worst possible time. Her opponent was now serving for the title and hadn’t been broken the whole match.
Pegula only needed one match point to claim the trophy.
Świątek was the more mercurial player, see-sawing between 30 winners and 39 unforced errors. Pegula had half as many winners and 23 fewer unforced errors. She maintained her focus throughout the match, which was mostly played from the baseline.
The vanquished Świątek shed some tears afterwards but composed herself in time for the presentation ceremony.
Later, the champion explained her approach to the final. “I tried to hold onto my serve. I know she’s a really good returner and so I tried to mix up my serve, especially my second serve. I didn’t really want her sitting on one return and just kind of dictating the point. I think I did a good job of that.
“She served really well so I was kind of like having to figure out how to read her serve and do the best I could on that front. She was serving the best I think I’ve seen when I’ve played her, so that was kind of an adjustment and it was hard.”
Now Pegula has a second grass title and acknowledged, “Everyone’s always told me ‘you have the perfect game for grass’. I just haven’t been able to really get a lot of momentum.
“Even last year, I won Berlin, but I’d come back from injury. I felt maybe a little out of shape, I wasn’t moving that well on grass. My ball was still going well but the movement wasn’t working as well. But I feel much better at it this year. You know, my coach keeps telling me, you gotta do well on the grass, it’s for you.”
So, with Wimbledon only two days away, what did she think of her prospects?
“I’m seeing the things I’ve worked on coming into play this week, so that gives me a lot of confidence.
“I saw my draw, I play Tuesday night, got that extra day. The body feels pretty good. Even though I look like I’m bandaged together, I’m really not.
“But you know it’s a new week, a lot of new challenges just a few days away. It’s funny how it just starts right back up again and in a couple of days I’ll be out there and find myself in another challenge that I going to have to deal with. Hopefully I’ll keep that momentum going.”
Title photo of Jessica Pegula by Bad Homburg Open
Update from Wimbledon
No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula lost in the first round of Wimbledon to Elisabetta Cocciaretto, 2-6, 3-6.
No. 8 seed Iga Świątek won Wimbledon. She defeated 13th seed Amanda Anisimova 6-0 6-0 in the first double bagel final since 1911.
After Pegula won the Bad Homburg final, she had told Świątek, “I know you say you can’t play on grass but you are very, very good on grass.”