'There's hope for me on grass' - Swiatek loses Bad Homburg final

Iga Swiatek appeared to be on the verge of tears after her Bad Homburg final loss

Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek said she "showed there is hope" for her on grass despite losing to American Jessica Pegula in the Bad Homburg Open final.

Former world number one Swiatek was playing in her first grass-court final but was edged out 6-4 7-5 by Pegula.

Despite being a former junior champion at Wimbledon, Swiatek has struggled on the quicker grass surface in her professional career. Her 22 WTA titles to date have either been won on hard courts (12) or clay (10).

Poland's four-time French Open and one-time US Open champion reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon in 2023 but has not gone beyond the fourth round in any of her other four appearances there.

She has appeared to turn a corner in Germany this week, recording her first victory over a top-10 player on grass by crushing last year's Wimbledon runner-up Jasmine Paolini of Italy 6-1 6-3 in the semi-finals.

"This tournament shows there is hope for me on grass," said Swiatek, who appeared tearful immediately after her loss. "I'm happy we can play here and I'm happy I could prove that."

Jessica Pegula has won titles on grass, clay and hard courts this year

World number three Pegula, who won her third title of 2025, told Swiatek in her on-court interview: "I know you say you can't play on grass, but trust me you can still play pretty good on grass. Cut yourself some slack.

"Good luck for next week, I know it's a short turnaround for both of us."

Swiatek faces Russian Polina Kudermetova in the first round of Wimbledon on Tuesday while Pegula is up against Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto on the same day.

A tough draw means Swiatek could take on former winner Elena Rybakina in the fourth round of Wimbledon and French Open champion Coco Gauff in the quarter-finals.

In theory Pegula has a much kinder run, although she could face surprise Queen's Club champion Tatjana Maria in round two.

The trip to Bad Homburg paid off for Swiatek on the rankings front. Reaching the final lifted her from eighth to fourth on the WTA list, while Pegula stayed third.

Joint saves four championship points to win Eastbourne title

Australian teenager Maya Joint saved four championship points in a thrilling final-set tie-break to beat Alexandra Eala of the Philippines and win the Eastbourne title on her tournament debut.

Joint, 19, who had a match point of her own saved at 7-6 in the tie-break, won 6-4 1-6 7-6 (12-10) and the victory takes her into the world's top 50 for the first time, rising 10 places to 41st.

Meanwhile, runner-up Eala became the first Filipina to play in the final of a WTA Tour event and the 20-year-old continues to also look a player destined for big things. Her run to the final lifted her from 74th to 56th in the rankings.

Joint missed out later in the day when she finished on the beaten team in the doubles final.

She and her partner, Taiwanese nine-time Grand Slam winner Hsieh Su-wei, were beaten 6-4 7-5 by Czech-Kazakh duo Marie Bouzkova and Anna Danilina.

Joint was hoping to become the first player to win both the singles and doubles titles in the same year at Eastbourne since Czech Jana Novotna did so in 1998 - weeks before she also won both events at Wimbledon.

Maya Joint is the current world number 51