After earning a place in the Top 10 for the first time with a hard-fought 3-6 6-3 7-6(3) victory over Carla Suarez Navarro in the Aegon Classic Birmingham semifinals, American Madison Keys didn’t want to stop there and got past tricky Barbora Strycova to win the tournament trophy and $146,200 in prize money.
The first to get a notable lead was Keys, who went 3-0 up early on and never looked back to take the opening set. Strycova gave much more resistance in the second set, as games were mostly long and went with serve all the way until the final stage of the match. At 4-3, as Keys was serving for 4-4, the 2014 Birmingham finalist Strycova had a big opportunity to turn the match around, but Keys didn’t allow a break to happen and the sole break of the set was hers, as she broke Strycova for 5-4 to soon after celebrate a victory.
Strycova’s day was not entirely unsuccessful though, as she got back to the court later on and won the doubles title alongside fellow Czech Karolina Pliskova. They beat Vania King and Alla Kudryavtseva 6-3 7-6(1). (photos: Jimmie48)
