Photo credit: Bad Homburg Open Facebook
Master multi-tasker Jessica Pegula is a champion for all surfaces.
Fueled by a near-flawless serving performance, Pegula stopped Iga Swiatek 6-4, 7-5, in today's Bad Homburg Open final to capture her second grass-court championship.
The top-seeded Pegula pumped her third ace for championship point and closed a one hour 46-minute triumph when Swiatek netted a backhand. Pegula denied the lone break point she faced with a drop shot winner in the fourth game.
It is Pegula’s ninth career championship, including her third title of the 2025 season.
The US Open finalist has won three titles on three different surfaces this season—Austin on hard court, Charleston on clay and Bad Homburg on grass—marking the first time in her career she’s won three titles in a single season.
It is Pegula’s fifth title in the past 12 months.
The 31-year-old American raised her 2025 record to 35-12—equaling Swiatek for second most wins on the WTA Tour behind world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka (42 wins in 2025).
“Congrats to Iga on a great week,” Pegula said after improving to 9-10 in career finals. “I know you say you can’t play on grass, but trust me you’re very good on grass as well.
“Thank you to my coach Mark Knowles and thanks to my hitting partner every single day… Thanks to the tournament for having me, it was such a special week… People were super friendly. It was really really nice. It’s such a beautiful event, the crowd showed up every day playing in front of full stands is great for both of us.”
Contesting her first career grass court final—and first final since she defeated Jasmine Paolini to win her fourth Roland Garros championship last June—Swiatek played well, but sometimes betrayed her cause by trying to squeeze shots too close to the lines and missing.
The defeat was Swiatek’s first finals loss since she fell to Sabalenka in the 2023 Mutua Madrid Open title match, snapping a streak of nine straight finals wins. Swiatek’s finals record stands at an impressive 22-5.
“I want to congratulate Jesse—you have an amazing game and you showed that throughout the tournament,” Swiatek said. “Hopefully, we’re gonna have many, many more finals ahead of us and congratulations for this trophy….
“This tournament shows for me there’s hope on grass. I’m happy I could play here and happy I could prove that.”
The flat-hitting Pegula played cleaner combinations for much of the opening set in the first WTA grass-court final featuring two Top 10 players since the 2019 Wimbledon final when Simona Halep defeated Serena Williams.
Across the net, Swiatek was opening the court, but sometimes failing to finish with the kill shot.
Netting a backhand, Swiatek faced a third break point in the seventh game. The Pole yanked a forehand deep as Pegula drew first-break blood for a 4-3 lead after 36 minutes of play.
The top seed quickly consolidated at 15 for 5-3.
Serving for the set, Pegula recovered from love-30 down to level.
In the ensuing rally, Swiatek was in charge, but on the eight shot she shoveled a mid-court forehand long. Swiatek’s 18th unforced error of the set gave Pegula set point. When Swiatek sailed a forehand, Pegula snatched the 49-minute opener. Swiatek committed nine more unforced errors—19 to 10—than the world No. 3.
Swiatek kept firing away in the second set. Down 15-30, Swiatek slammed successive aces—her seventh and eighth aces of the final—holding for a 3-2 second-set lead.
The top seed stamped a love hold for 5-all.
In the 11th game, Pegula hit some fine running strikes to finally break through. Carving a drop shot, Pegula read the crosscourt reply and poked a full-stretch running forehand down the line for the first break point of the second set.
Swiatek saved break point on a second serve. Pegula snapped a forehand return that crashed into the tape and crawled over for a second break point.
Rising up on the run, Pegula stung a forehand strike to break for 6-5 with a firm “come on!”.
Deadlocked at 30-all in the next game, Pegula pumped her third ace for championship point and closed on Swiatek’s final backhand error.