WTA125 Bastad: Elisabetta Cocciaretto vs Katarzyna Kawa final analysis

Cocciaretto secured a WTA 125 title for fourth season in a row, following a very tough 12-month period

Elisabetta Cocciaretto was in great form one year ago. She reached the fourth round of a Major for the first time in her career at the 2024 French Open, then made a seamless transition to her favourite grass with a semifinal run at WTA 250 Birmingham. The Italian was looking forward to Wimbledon, but instead found herself battling pneumonia and in hospital:

"I withdrew because I couldn't walk. I couldn't wake up from the bed. I stayed 5 or 6 days with 39, 40 degrees of fever. I took antibiotics and everything. But the thing is that I was sleeping, like, 15 hours a day. I had mycoplasma virus pneumoniae. I went to the hospital, and I was sick until the Olympic Games."

— Elisabetta Cocciaretto, on her health struggles around last year’s Wimbledon

Also bothered by a stomach virus, Cocciaretto only managed to win 4 matches during the second half of 2024 and didn’t start the new year much better: a single quarterfinal reached and a 9-15 season record exiting Roland Garros.

It was the arrival of the 2025 grass court swing that finally brought favourable winds to Cocciaretto’s sails.

First, she advanced to her first semifinal in 51 weeks at WTA 250 ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

Then, she protagonized the biggest first round shock at Wimbledon by totally blowing third seed Jessica Pegula off the court. A stunned Pegula — one of the top favourites for the title, champion just days earlier at Bad Homburg and a comfortable 6-4 6-0 winner over the same Cocciaretto at SW19 in 2023 — could only praise her inspired opponent:

"She played absolutely incredible tennis. Do I think I played the best match ever? No, but I definitely don't think I was playing bad. (…) She just was hitting her shots and going for it, serving big, serving high percentage, going big second serves, redirecting the ball. (…) I do feel like she played kind of insane. Hats off to her. Kudos to her for playing at a high level that I couldn't match it today."

— Jessica Pegula, post-match

Indeed, the 24-year old Italian was spectacular. On top of the baseline, she took the ball very early time and time again, played an astonishing 33% of shots in attack, didn’t face a single break point all match and finished with a 17-5 advantage in winners.

Adapted from official Wimbledon stats

📺 source: Wimbledon (youtube highlights)

Only stopped in a deciding set tie-break by eventual Wimbledon semifinalist Belinda Bencic in the third round, Cocciaretto was involved in another nail-biting finish just 3 days later, at the start of her Bastad campaign. As so often is the case in pro tennis, a few points can make all the difference.