Iga Swiatek misses out on first grass-court title ahead of Wimbledon as year-long trophy drought extends

Iga Swiatek's wait for a maiden grass-court title - and first on any surface in a year - goes on after she lost to top seed Jessica Pegula in the final of the Bad Homburg Open.

Pegula triumphed 6-4 7-5 to claim her ninth career title, third of 2025 and second on grass, after victory at the German Open a year ago.

Former world No 1 Swiatek has won 22 WTA titles - 12 on hardcourts and 10 on clay - but had never previously reached a grass-court final.

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The Pole is without a tournament victory since winning the French Open for a fourth time in five years in June 2024, with this clash versus Pegula her first final since then.

Swiatek: There is hope for me on grass

Pegula, who saved the only break point she faced in the match, said to Swiatek afterwards: "I know you say you can't play on grass but you are very, very good on grass. It was a special week."

Swiatek added: "This tournament shows there is hope for me on grass."

Swiatek, who has slipped to eighth in the world rankings, will face Russia's Polina Kudermetova in the first round at Wimbledon, a tournament at which she has never gone beyond the quarter-finals in five attempts.

American Pegula, a Wimbledon quarter-finalist in 2023, will take on Italy's Elisabetta Cocciaretto in her opening match at the grass-court major.

Eala misses out on history as Joint wins at Eastbourne

Elsewhere, Alexandra Eala missed out on becoming the first player from the Philippines to win a WTA title as she was beaten by Maya Joint at the Eastbourne Open.

Eala - who is scheduled to face defending Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova in the first round of next week's Grand Slam - lost 6-4 1-6 7-6 (12-10) to her Australian opponent after an absorbing final-set tie-break.

Joint secured a second trophy in as many months after winning in Morocco in May.

The Australian's run to the Eastbourne title included a three-set victory over British No 1 Emma Raducanu in the last 16 and a win against three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur in the last 32.

Fritz wins fourth Eastbourne title

In the men's event, Taylor Fritz secured his fourth Eastbourne title and second in as many years with a 7-5 6-1 win over fellow American Jenson Brooksby.

Fritz, who also picked up this title in 2019 and 2022, had been taken to three sets in his previous three matches, by Joao Fonseca, Marcos Giron and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

But the world No 5 dominated against lucky loser Brooksby - who had been beaten in the second round of qualifying - winning eight of the final nine games.

Fritz begins his Wimbledon campaign against big-serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard on Monday and will be looking to better his run to the quarter-finals a year ago.

The 27-year-old said: "There's something about Eastbourne. I just love it here. Every year I come here and it's such a good week. This year it's been different and I've had to fight through my matches. I feel like I've really upped my level.

"I'm going to be ready to go [for Wimbledon]. I'd much rather go into the tournament with confidence and a title."

Fritz saw off Alexander Zverev to secure the Stuttgart Open title earlier this month and has won seven of his eight matches on grass so far this year, with the only blemish a defeat to Corentin Moutet in the last 32 at Queen's.

On Saturday, Moutet was beaten by Netherlands' Tallon Griekspoor in the final of the Mallorca Championships, going down 7-5 7-6 (7-3) as his opponent won his first title in two years.