Madison Keys won the Eastbourne title for a third time as the American defeated Germany’s Tatjana Maria 7-5, 6-4 on Saturday to gain some momentum going into Wimbledon.

Keys, the tournament’s No 2 seed, ignored sweltering temperatures on England’s south coast to see off the world No 112 in 93 minutes. It was the 31-year-old’s first title since she clinched her maiden grand slam crown at the Australian Open last year.

Keys joins an illustrious group of three-time champions on the Eastbourne grass, alongside Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova.

In her first final since finishing as the Trophee Clarins runner-up in Paris in May, the Keys avenged a semi-final defeat against Maria on grass at Queen’s Club last year.

Keys’s first WTA title came at Eastbourne 12 years ago and she won a second in 2023. She maintained her dominance at the event, securing an 11th title on the women’s tour in her 16th career final.

She was in charge throughout against the 38-year-old Maria and faced just one break point.

It was the perfect preparation for Wimbledon, which starts on Monday. Keys has never managed to go beyond the quarter-finals at the All England Club. She will face compatriot Kayla Day in the first round on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, Naomi Osaka’s Wimbledon preparations have received a setback after she retired at the start of the second set in the Bad Homburg Open final because of a foot injury. The fourth-seeded Japanese player was trailing 6-1, 1-0 to Karolina Muchova of Czechia in the grass-court final in Germany when she wiithdrew. Osaka had taken a medical timeout in the first set. After gesturing that she could not continue she later walked over to shake hands with Muchova. The four-time grand slam champion Osaka is seeded No 14 at Wimbledon and is scheduled to play Elsa Jacquemot in the first round.