Madison Keys holds off Daria Kasatkina fightback to win third grass-court title in Eastbourne

Madison Keys has established herself as one to watch at Wimbledon after powering her way to one of the biggest grass-court lead-up titles there is in Eastbourne.

The American didn’t drop a set en route to the final of the WTA 500 event and kept that pattern going by holding off a second set fightback to defeat Daria Kasatkina for the title on Saturday, 6-2, 7-6 (13).

It was the seventh WTA title of Keys’ career, and her third on grass—she also won Eastbourne as a teenager back in 2014, as well as Birmingham in 2016.

“I love coming and playing in Eastbourne,” Keys said afterwards.

“Being able to win the title here twice now makes me have very fond memories.”

She’ll now head to Wimbledon, where her best result was a quarterfinal showing in 2015, falling to Agnieszka Radwanska in a tight three-setter, 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-3. She's the No. 25 seed in the draw this year.

Keys looked headed for a runaway victory on Saturday as she stormed out to a 6-2, 4-1 lead, only to watch on as Kasatkina got the break back and evened the second set up at 4-all—the two eventually found themselves in a second set tie-break, where Keys fought off four set points and eventually closed it out on her fifth match point after an hour and 42 minutes on court.

Keys improved to 9-2 in her career against Kasatkina with the win. The American had won their first seven meetings in a row before the Russian won two of their last three going into the Eastbourne final.

With their results in Eastbourne, both Keys and Kasatkina are projected to move back up the WTA rankings—Keys will rise from No. 25 back into the Top 20, while Kasatkina will rise from No. 11 back into the Top 10.