Daria Kasatkina and Taylor Fritz won the women’s and men’s singles titles respectively at the Eastbourne International on Saturday as they both enjoyed morale-boosting grass-court triumphs just days out from the start of Wimbledon. Kasatkina’s 6-3, 6-4 victory over Leylah Fernandez gave the Russian her first grass-court title a year after she lost in the Eastbourne final to Madison Keys. By contrast top-seed Fritz became the first three-time men’s singles champion at Devonshire Park with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Australian qualifier Max Purcell.
Sixth seed Kasatkina, in defeating former US Open finalist Fernandez, won her seventh career title and first since 2022 following three previous defeats in finals this season. “It’s been a year, but it feels like it’s been a few days since last year when I was standing here,” said the 27-year-old. “It was a tough battle today.
It’s been a long road to the title but I am really proud.” Kasatkina now heads to Wimbledon, where she is seeded 14th, to play China’s Zhang Shuai in the first round of the women’s singles as the grass-court Grand Slam gets underway on Monday. Fernandez’s serve was broken in the first game and Kasatkina backed that up by holding her own serve.
A gruelling fifth game of 11 deuces, which lasted just over 20 minutes, including a stoppage while a spectator received medical treatment, saw Fernandez force three break points. Nevertheless, Kasatkina held and stayed ahead before clinching the set .
