SWIATEK VS PAOLINI: KURPARK SEMIFINAL AS A REMATCH OF THE 2024 FRENCH OPEN FINAL

The Bad Homburg Open powered by Solarwatt semifinals promise top-class tennis! Iga Swiatek vs. Jasmine Paolini: The 2024 French Open final gets an exciting encore in the Kurpark. Fan favorite Swiatek, currently the most successful active player with five Grand Slam titles, will face Wimbledon finalist Paolini on Friday in the semifinals of the Bad Homburg Open powered by Solarwatt.

Top seed and world No. 3 Jessica Pegula also booked her place in the final four of the prestigious WTA 500 event—offering around $1.1 million in prize money—by defeating her close friend Emma Navarro 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 in a Top 10 duel on Thursday. Now, the US Open finalist can dream of her second grass court title following her Berlin triumph in 2024. Her next opponent is surprise semifinalist Linda Noskova. The world No. 30 took out rising star Mirra Andreeva with a convincing 6-3, 6-3 win.
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Paolini praises fans and atmosphere: “The people push me”

‍Paolini continues to impress in her Kurpark debut. After her breakthrough runs to the Roland Garros and Wimbledon finals last year, the Italian, seeded second here, kept her nerve in key moments to overcome left-hander Beatriz Haddad Maia 7-5, 7-5. In the previous round, she had already edged past Leylah Fernandez by winning both tiebreaks.

The 29-year-old from Castelnuovo di Garfagnana in Tuscany is quickly becoming a fan favorite at the Bad Homburg Open powered by Solarwatt. “I’m really happy to have a crowd like this here in the Kurpark. The people push me to fight for every point. I try to give that positive energy back to them,” said Paolini, who at 1.63 meters is one of the shortest players on the WTA Tour.

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Pegula on alert ahead of underdog Noskova

‍Paolini had lost last year’s French Open final in clear fashion to Swiatek. But the Pole, who impressed with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) quarterfinal win over Ekaterina Alexandrova on Thursday, is expecting a tough match. “It’s going to be a challenge. Jasmine has the skills to play very well on grass. I need to be ready and focus on myself,” said the four-time Paris champion, who is coached by Wim Fissette—the Belgian who led Angelique Kerber to her Wimbledon title in 2018. The prestigious trophy at Church Road is still missing from Swiatek’s résumé.

While Swiatek’s match had to be paused for nearly 90 minutes due to a thunderstorm, the following matches went ahead unaffected by the weather.
Andreeva, just 18 years old, stumbled in her Wimbledon warm-up with the loss to 20-year-old Noskova, who had already knocked out last year’s Kurpark finalist Donna Vekic in the round of 16.