Eastbourne International: Taylor Fritz becomes first three-time champion; Daria Kasatkina ends finals streak

Taylor Fritz of the USA became the first three-time men’s champion of the Eastbourne International on Saturday, while Daria Kasatkina also won to end her runs of finals defeats.

Fritz beat Australian qualifier Max Purcell 6-4 6-3 in the final, capturing his eighth career title without dropping a set.
He also won at Eastbourne in 2019 and 2022.

Fritz opens Wimbledon seeded 13th against another Australian, Christopher O’Connell. After his first ATP tour final, Purcell plays qualifier Otto Virtanen.

Kasatkina’s first title on grass ended a frustrating run of losing five straight finals, including three this year.

The Russian beat Leylah Fernandez 6-3 6-4 in the women’s final, extending her record against the Canadian to 3-0.

Kasatkina was the runner-up at Eastbourne last year to Madison Keys, who Fernandez knocked out on Friday.

The victory is Kasatkina’s seventh career title, and first since 2022.

Kasatkina is seeded 14th at Wimbledon and has drawn Zhang Shuai of China while Fernandez is seeded 30th and has Lucia Bronzetti of Italy first.

Chilean Tabilo makes history in Mallorca | Shnaider wins at Bad Homburg

Alejandro Tabilo became the first Chilean man to win a grass-court title in the Open era at the Mallorca Championships on Saturday.

Tabilo, seeded fourth, defeated the unseeded Sebastian Ofner of Austria 6-3 6-4 in the final. A single break decided each set as Tabilo saved all three break chances against him.

He will rise five places to a career-high 19 in the rankings on Monday, the first time in 19 years Chile will have two top-20 players. Nicolas Jarry is the other.

After his second title of the year and career, Tabilo will play Great Britain’s Daniel Evans at Wimbledon. Ofner follows his first tour final by facing Aleksandar Vukic of Australia.

Diana Shnaider won her second WTA singles title this year in her Bad Homburg Open debut when she beat Donna Vekic 6-3 2-6 6-3 in the final on Saturday.

In a final of unseeded players, Shnaider took four of her six break-point chances, and saved 10 of 13 against Vekic of Croatia.

Shnaider won her maiden tour title at Hua Hin in February. The 20-year-old Russian started the grass tournament at a career-high ranking of 47, and will rise to 30 on Monday.

She has drawn 2021 runner-up Karolina Pliskova in the Wimbledon first round, while Vekic will face China’s Wang Xiyu.

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