The Polish five-time grand slam champion brushed aside last year's Wimbledon runner-up Jasmine Paolini 6-1 6-3 on Friday to reach the Bad Homburg Open final, her first championship match on the surface, and sounded like a woman at last learning to love playing on the lawns.
"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," said a delighted Swiatek, who has won her grand slams on clay and hard courts but has never been beyond the Wimbledon quarter-finals in five attempts.
"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 will face American top seed Jessica Pegula, who had to battle from behind to beat Czech Linda Noskova 6-7 (2-7) 7-5 6-1 in just over two hours.
This is the 24-year-old's only grass tournament of the season ahead of Wimbledon, having opted instead to train for a week in Mallorca before competing in the German event.
It felt like a big win for her against the buoyant Italian, as she raced through the first set in 29 minutes with three breaks of serve and then went on the attack to take a 4-2 lead in the second stanza.
Pegula knows it's going to be a tough ask against a player who's "firing on all cyclinders" again.
"That's why she is a champion and was world No.1. I hit pretty low and flat and that hopefully could disrupt the rhythm," said the American.
With agencies
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