World No. 3 Jessica Pegula beat five-time major champion Iga Swiatek 6-4, 7-5 to win the grass-court Bad Homburg Open and extend Swiatek’s year-long title drought on Saturday.

Pegula clinched her third title of 2025 — with the others in Austin, Texas, and Charleston, South Carolina — and it was the ninth title of the American’s career.

World No. 8 Swiatek sought her first trophy since the 2024 French Open and 23rd overall.

In their 11th career meeting but first on grass, Pegula won for the fifth time overall. Pegula beat Swiatek in the quarterfinals at last year’s U.S. Open, where she finished runner-up.

Although Swiatek hit nine aces in the final on Saturday, she also dropped her serve twice. Pegula saved the only break point she faced.

Still, Swiatek took heart from her performance.

“This tournament shows there is hope for me on grass,” she said. “I’m happy we can play here and I’m happy I could prove that.”

The former No. 1 has won four French Opens and one U.S. Open but has never been beyond the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.

Pegula has also never been past the last eight at Wimbledon, where plays starts on Monday in London.

Elsewhere on Saturday, 19-year-old Australian Maya Joint saved four match points as she won the Eastbourne Open final against Filipino qualifier Alexandra Eala 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (10).

Jannik Sinner confirmed that he recently fired two members of his team — fitness coach Marco Panichi and physiotherapist Ulises Badio, who themselves were replacements for people involved in the player’s doping case — but declined to explain the reason for the change ahead of Wimbledon.

Sinner, who has been ranked No. 1 for more than a year, said that he decided shortly after losing in the second round of the grass-court tournament in Halle, Germany, this month to make the change. Sinner has not yet found substitutes for Panichi and Badio, who both used to work with Novak Djokovic.

“Nothing seriously bad happened. They did great work for (the past) three months. Sometimes, things happen,” Sinner said at his pre-tournament news conference. “The timing obviously isn’t the best, but having done a lot of work (together) before, it won’t affect this Grand Slam a lot. I feel well physically and mentally and ready to compete.”

Play begins Monday at the All England Club, where Sinner was a quarterfinalist in 2024. He will play Luca Nardi in an all-Italian matchup on Tuesday.

Last year, Sinner tested positive twice for a trace amount of an anabolic steroid in March; the case wasn’t made public until August, shortly before the U.S. Open, which he ended up winning for the second of his three Grand Slam titles.

He initially was completely cleared, based on the defense that he accidentally was exposed to the banned substance, Clostebol, via a massage from his then-physiotherapist, Giacomo Naldi. Sinner said his fitness trainer at the time, Umberto Ferrara, purchased a product in Italy and gave it to Naldi for a cut on Naldi’s finger. Naldi then treated Sinner while not wearing gloves.

The World Anti-Doping Agency appealed the exoneration, and Sinner agreed to serve a three-month ban that ended right before the Italian Open in May.

soccer

Spain midfielder Aitana Bonmatí, the two-time Ballon d’Or holder, has been hospitalized with viral meningitis less than a week before the Women’s European Championship begins.

Spain coach Montse Tomé said late on Friday that her star player had felt ill and was taken to a hospital in Madrid where she tested positive for meningitis.

Spain’s team is set to travel to Switzerland today for the tournament. Its first game is against Portugal on Thursday in Bern. It will also face Belgium and Italy in Group B at Euro 2025.

Former France midfielder Paul Pogba joined Monaco on a two-year contract in a bid to relaunch a stellar career derailed by injuries and a doping ban. Monaco confirmed the widely expected transfer on the club website, and in a video posted on X, with the 32-year-old Pogba wearing the club’s red-and-white jersey.