Iga Swiatek is back in action for the first time since her dominance at the French Open came to an end.
The Pole suffered a crushing three-set defeat to Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals in Paris, including not winning a single game against the world number one in the final set.
But the 23-year-old has put that disappointment behind her and now faces the challenge of trying to conquer the grass, her least successful surface.
But Swiatek has made a promising start at the Bad Homburg Open, defeating her fellow former top-ranked player Victoria Azarenka and striking 25 winners and six aces.
What does Iga Swiatek wish was different about grass court tournaments?
Iga Swiatek has struggled to convert her success on clay and hard courts to grass.
She has yet to make a final on the surface, but she plans to change that at the Bad Homburg Open, where is now into the quarter-finals.
Swiatek has now won five of her six meetings against Azarenka as her 6-4, 6-4 victory ensured she won her first match on grass this season.
Due to Swiatek being a top eight seeded player, she was given a bye in Bad Homburg, meaning she does not have to play a first round match and starts her campaign from round two.
But with the limited time players spend on grass and the challenges she faces playing on the surface, Swiatek wishes that was not the case.
“It was my first match on grass this year, actually having byes in these tournaments is not always a great thing,” Swiatek said post-match.
“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.”
Iga Swiatek wins 300th WTA match
Swiatek’s victory in her first grass court match of 2025 is in fact her 300th WTA Tour win.
It took her just 372 matches to do so and in the process she became the 11th fastest woman to achieve this feat.
Swiatek claimed 300 wins in the fewest number of matches since Serena Williams, who took 359 matches to achieve this many victories.
“The first few games, I thought I was playing really well, and I had opportunities to break her, but I didn’t,” Swiatek added. “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.”
Swiatek will face the winner of Wednesday’s second-round match between Ekaterina Alexandrova and Maria Sakkari in the quarter-finals.
