Iga Swiatek beats Anna Blinkova at BAD Homburg Open, Coco Gauff eases past Jessica Pegula at Eastbourne International
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Updated 29/06/2023 at 20:11 GMT
Wimbledon has proved a happy hunting ground for Coco Gauff and her preparations for the third Grand Slam of the year are progressing nicely as she breezed into the semi-finals of the Eastbourne International with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Jessica Pegula. Meanwhile in Germany, Iga Swiatek continued her good form by beating Anna Blinkova, while Mirra Andreeva is into the main draw of Wimbledon aged 16.
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There was no bagel on the menu for Iga Swiatek, but the French Open champion had no trouble brushing aside the challenge of Anna Blinkova to reach the semi-finals of the Bad Homburg Open.
After winning at Roland-Garros, the Pole was late to start her season on grass.
But Swiatek is making up for lost time in Germany. She racked up her 15th bagel of the season in her opening match of the year on grass, and the world No. 1 was dominant throughout on Thursday as she wrapped up a 6-3 6-2 win in an hour and 12 minutes.
"I'm happy that I can play such solid tennis," Swiatek said after winning her 10th match in a row. "Usually, there's not much time to practice on grass so I'm pretty happy that I used that time 100% 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."
Lucia Bronzetti will be Swiatek’s opponent in the semi-finals following her win over Varvara Gracheva.
Meanwhile Coco Gauff won the battle of the Americans in Eastbourne, as she got the better of Jessica Pegula to reach the semi-finals of the south-coast event.
Gauff, who breezed past Jodie Burrage to reach the last eight, played front-foot tennis and was rewarded with a 6-3 6-3 win in one hour and eight minutes.
There was not a lot between the two from the back of the court, but Gauff was able to fall back on her big serve at pressure moments.
Gauff burst onto the scene at Wimbledon in 2019, reaching the fourth round, and the 19-year-old has always looked at ease on grass.
Two breaks of serve were enough for Gauff to take the opening set, but any thoughts of a stroll in Sussex were dashed when Pegula edged ahead in the second set.
Pegula created three break points in the second game of the second set, and converted when a fierce forehand forced Gauff to send the ball long at full stretch.
Gauff got the match back on serve in the second set when breaking back in the fifth game, and held her serve to level the set at three games apiece despite Pegula being handed a chance by a fortuitous net cord.
The No. 5 seed made it four games on the bounce when breaking Pegula for a second time in the set.
That appeared to take the wind from Pegula’s sails, as Gauff held and then sealed victory with another break - wrapping up the win with a crunching forehand.
Gauff will take on Madison Keys in the semis, following her 6-4 6-1 win over Petra Martic.
Later in the day, Caroline Garcia’s Wimbledon preparations ended on a low note, as the French player retired due to injury when a set down to Daria Kasatkina.
Kasatkina led 6-2 2-1 when the No. 2 seed Garcia felt it was not worth the risk of continuing, on account of her shoulder that was heavily taped.
Elsewhere, the curtain came down on Feliciano Lopez’s career with a 6-2 6-4 defeat to Yannick Hanfmann at the Mallorca Championships.
The Spaniard, a three-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist and former world No. 9, called time on his career at the age of 41.
“I didn’t want to retire with people feeling sorry for me, or playing a level that I wouldn’t have felt comfortable with,” Lopez, who retires as the Spaniard with the most wins on grass (87) to his name, said. “I’m very happy to be able to play how I have so far. I feel competitive and that’s what I wanted.”
A career on the rise is that of Christopher Eubanks and he advanced to his first semi-final at the top level following a 7-6(5) 7-6(4) win over Arthur Rinderknech.
The American will face Lloyd Harris in the semi-finals, while Hanfmann will take on Adrian Mannarino.
Back in the UK, Tommy Paul won a tie-break in the final set to beat JJ Wolf in the quarter finals of the Eastbourne International.
Paul will face Gregoire Barrere in the last four following his win over Miomir Kecmanovic, while Mackenzie McDonald will take on Francisco Cerundolo in the top half of the draw after wins over Mikael Ymer and Zhizhen Zhang respectively.
In Wimbledon qualifying, Mirra Andreeva claimed a 7-5 5-7 6-2 win over Tamara Korpatsch to book her place in the main draw at the age of 16.
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