Angelique Kerber wins first title since Wimbledon 2018 in Bad Homburg

Angelique Kerber gave herself a confidence boost ahead of Wimbledon, which starts Monday, by winning her first tournament in three years to take the WTA Bad Homburg grass-court title. Kerber, a former world number one, beat Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-2 in Saturday’s final to win her first title since victory at Wimbledon in 2018. After losing two finals in 2019, this is Kerber’s first tournament win since beating Serena Williams to win Wimbledon, when she claimed her third Grand Slam title. “It means a lot to me today. This is my surface, I felt very comfortable on grass and I’m just happy to have finally won a tournament again,” said Kerber, whose family was watching in the stands. “To be able to do all this in front of my friends and family is even nicer.” This was Kerber’s third grass-court title, alongside Wimbledon in 2018 and the WTA Birmingham tournament in 2015, and the 13th tournament win of her career. The 33-year-old had struggled this season and slipped down to a world ranking of 28, but proved her form this week in Bad Homburg, near Frankfurt. After rain washed out Thursday’s schedule, Kerber beat two-time former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in her semi-final on Friday, just hours after her victory in the quarter-finals. It was a good fitness test for Kerber, who played six sets on Friday, having gone to three against Kvitova and also Amanda Anisimova of the USA in her quarter-final win.