Swiatek wins 10th straight match, into first grass-court semifinal

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.