Pliskova beats Kerber for Eastbourne title

Karolina Pliskova beat reigning Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber 6-1 6-4 in the Eastbourne final just two days before the grass court Grand Slam starts in London.

World No.3 Pliskova took the first set in just 31 minutes with three service breaks on Saturday, and held on to an early break in the second to win the title.

Pliskova didn’t drop a set all week in Eastbourne, and dropped just 19 games across five matches.

“I never had a week like this, that I didn’t lose that many games. I felt like everything went quite smooth,” Pliskova told wtatennis.com.

“Especially on the grass, this serve is working. Normally you’re never gonna ace 20 times with Angie, but you need to just step after the serve and just to be aggressive.

“On the grass, her shots sometimes just stay too low, so maybe I miss a little bit more during the second set, but I think I didn’t do much wrong today.”

Pliskova has never gone further than the fourth round at Wimbledon. The last time she won in Eastbourne, in 2017, she went on to exit in the second round at the All England Club.

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“Of course, it’s going to be new start, new beginning,” Pliskova said of next week’s Wimbledon championships.

“Nobody’s gonna really think about this (Eastbourne title). Maybe me (laughter).”

Kerber hasn’t won a tournament since beating Serena Williams in last year’s Wimbledon final.

This was Pliskova’s third Eastbourne final; she lost in the title match in 2016 before winning in 2017 and 2019. Kerber has lost all three finals she has played at the Wimbledon tune-up.

“I think she played a perfect match,” Kerber said.

“I will try to take the positive things from the whole week, from the last two weeks before going to Wimbledon now. I take the positive, how many good matches I had here. Of course today it was not the result that I wished, but I played against a good opponent.

“Right now, of course I will try to think about this match a little bit what could I do better next time. But starting from tomorrow when I arrive in London, I will think about Wimbledon and not anymore about Eastbourne then.”