Swiatek overcomes fright from Maria to win on Bad Homburg Open debut

BAD HOMBURG, Germany — Iga Swiatek overcame a slow start before powering her way into the second round of the Bad Homburg Open with a 5-7, 6-2, 6-0 win over grass-court specialist Tatjana Maria on Monday.

Swiatek, making her first competitive appearance since winning the French Open two weeks before, took time to get going in her first match on grass this season. Maria saved three of the four break points she faced and converted both of her opportunities to win the first set.

But Swiatek answered the 2022 Wimbledon semifinalist in the next and lost only two more games for the rest of the match, wrapping up the win in 1 hour, 52 minutes.

It’s Swiatek’s eighth consecutive win and a tour-leading 36th of the season.

“At the beginning it was tricky,” Swiatek said. “But I’m pretty glad that I figured it out because I guess problem-solving on grass is the most important thing.”

Grass remains the only surface on which she has yet to win a title. She’s yet to make it past the round of 16 at Wimbledon.

The top-ranked Polish player next faces Jil Teichmann in the second round. The Swiss player rallied to beat Claire Liu of the United States 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Fellow American Emma Navarro eased to a 6-2, 6-0 win over Argentine Nadia Podoroska for a second-round meeting with Alizé Cornet of France.

Also, the fourth-seeded Mayar Sherif edged Germany’s Anna-Lena Friedsam 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 for her first main-draw win on grass.

Katerina Siniakova defeated the seventh-seeded Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-3, 6-4, and Bianca Andreescu edged Sonay Kartal of Britain 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.

There were wins, too,for Canadian Leylah Fernandez, Czech player Linda Noskova, France;s Varvara Gracheva and Italy's Lucia Bronzetti.