Swiatek cruises past second-seed Paolini to reach first grass final

BAD HOMBURG, Germany :Five-times Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek crushed second seed Jasmine Paolini 6-1 6-3 on Friday to reach the Bad Homburg Open final and stay in the hunt for her first career title on grass.

She will face American top seed Jessica Pegula, who had to dig deep to beat Czech Linda Noskova 6-7(2) 7-5 6-1 in just over two hours.

With Wimbledon starting next week, Swiatek, the former world number one, showed she was on the right track on the surface, outclassing the Italian, last year's Wimbledon finalist.

"I am super happy and I was not expecting this. I just did my job and I knew what I wanted to play and I went for it," Swiatek said in a post-match interview.

"I'm happy I kept the momentum going until the end of the match. Jasmine, you can't let her get back in the game because she's a fighter. I just wanted to go for it, and go for my shots." Swiatek has a 5-0 lead in their head-to-head matches.

The Pole, who has won the French Open four times along with one U.S. Open, did not play any other grass tournaments this season ahead of next week's Wimbledon start, instead opting for a week of training in Mallorca before competing in Bad Homburg.

She was never troubled by the Italian in the first set as she raced through it in 29 minutes courtesy of three breaks.

The pair traded breaks at the start of the second set but Paolini continued to struggle to hold serve and contain the aggressive Pole who went 4-2 up.

Swiatek sealed victory with a forehand winner on her third match point to book a final spot against Pegula, who had to work much harder to come from a set down and oust the talented 20-year-old Czech.

Noskova had Pegula on the ropes, having won the first set and leading 5-4 in the second before the American