TENNIS WTA – Madison Keys has won her first WTA title in Eastbourne by defeating in three long sets Angelique Kerber 6-3 3-6 7-5. From Eastbourne, Giulio Gasparin
The 19 year old girl from Florida has taken her maiden title at her very first final at the fourth match point, after serving 17 aces (one of them at 126 mph) and 60 winners.
It was not an easy task for the young American as Kerber did not give up until the very end and as both acknowledged the match was resolved by a couple of points and it could have gone either way.
Under the bright sun of an enjoyably warm summer day, the two athletes battled for almost two hours, though the quality struggled to kick in at first.
Both players looked quite nervous, though for different reasons: Keys was playing her first ever final and had never won against Kerber in their two previous matches, while the German was yet to win a title this year after the finals lost to Tsvetlana Pironkova in Sydney and Simona Halep in Doha. Moreover, the fifth seed had never won a title outdoors and two years ago finished runner up at this very event after wasting match points against Tamira Paszek.
In the early games, both had the chance to break the other’s serve, but in the end only the American capitalised her chances and found the break that decided the first set.
Kerber reacted by adding more power to her shots and, thanks to this new aggressive attitude, she managed to force Keys to risk more and hence miss more.
The fifth seed flew to an early 3-0 lead and she then managed to maintain the break lead until the very end of the set.
It all came down to the third set, where again it was the serve to rule most of the games, with both players holding with authority and giving very little chances to the other.
Keys on a let hit a 131mph serve, which would have been the fastest serve ever hit by a woman.
The American was impressive especially in the moments of difficulty to dig out of troubles with confidence.
What was evident, though, was that Kerber’s attitude had gone too passive again and it cost her many chances throughout the set, until she had to serve on 6-5.
In a stunning game for intensity and quality, Keys found some outstanding points, one of them, probably the best of the match, gave her the first match point after she defended Kerber’s accelerations and then closed with a lovely dropshot.
The German managed to clear three match points, but when an overrule by Alison Lang transformed a good second serve in a double fault for the fourth match point, it seemed as if her focus went lost and a netted forehand gave keys her first title.
The American, thanks to this win, will jump to world number 30 in Monday’s ranking.
Curiously, earlier today another American won her first WTA tournament, as Coco Vandeweghe lifted the trophy in Rosmalen becoming the first American not in the Williams’ family to win a trophy since Melanie Oudin’s success in Birmingham in 2012.
