Madison Keys wins Eastbourne to fire out Wimbledon warning

Sport360 staff 06:11 22/06/2014
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  • First of many? Madison Keys lifts her Eastbourne trophy.

    American teenager Madison Keys won the first WTA Tour title of her career with victory over Angelique Kerber in the final of the Aegon International in Eastbourne.

    The 19-year-old is one of the rising stars of the women’s game and showed what a danger she could be at Wimbledon with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 victory over fifth seed Kerber.

    Keys, who plays fellow young gun Monica Puig in round one at the All England Club, hit 60 winners and 17 aces and recovered from 0-30 in the penultimate game before taking her fourth match point.

    The American said: “I’m just so incredibly happy. It’s one of those things where when you’re training and you don’t want to be there, you’re tired or everything hurts, you think of this moment, and it really helps push you through all of the hard times.

    “I have always loved grass. To win my first title on grass is just an amazing experience.”

    Keys is the first teenager to win a Premier-level title since Caroline Wozniacki in New Haven in 2009 and should break into the top 30 on Monday.

    Spain’s Feliciano Lopez retained the men’s title with a hard-fought 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 7-5 win over top seed Richard Gasquet. It completed an excellent Wimbledon build-up for Lopez, who was narrowly beaten in the final at Queen’s Club last weekend by Grigor Dimitrov.

    Lopez will also be the final men’s champion at Eastbourne, with the tournament reverting to women only next year when the men return to Nottingham.

    Meanwhile, Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut landed the first title of his careeras he triumphed at the Topshelf Open in Holland.

    The 26-year-old, who has climbed from 73rd in the rankings in January to a career-high 28th place, and is now set to go higher, beat Germany’s Benjamin Becker 2-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 at the ‘s-Hertogenbosch event.

    Bautista Agut has wins over Juan Martin del Porto and Tomas Berdych in 2014, and heads to Wimbledon in prime form.

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