Madison Keys won the Eastbourne title for a third time as the American defeated Germany’s Tatjana Maria 7-5, 6-4 on Saturday to gain some momentum going into Wimbledon.Keys, the tournament’s No 2 seed, ignored sweltering temperatures on England’s south coast to see off the world No 112 in 93 minutes. It was the 31-year-old’s first title since she clinched her maiden grand slam crown at the Australian Open last year.Keys joins an illustrious group of three-time champions on the Eastbourne grass, alongside Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova.In her first final since finishing as the Trophee Clarins runner-up in Paris in May, the Keys avenged a semi-final defeat against Maria on grass at Queen’s Club last year.Keys’s first WTA title came at Eastbourne 12 years ago and she won a second in 2023. She maintained her dominance at the event, securing an 11th title on the women’s tour in her 16th career final.She was in charge throughout against the 38-year-old Maria and faced just one break point.It was the perfect preparation for Wimbledon, which starts on Monday. Keys has never managed to go beyond the quarter-finals at the All England Club. She will face compatriot Kayla Day in the first round on Tuesday.Elsewhere, Naomi Osaka’s Wimbledon preparations have received a setback after she retired at the start of the second set in the Bad Homburg Open final because of a foot injury. The fourth-seeded Japanese player was trailing 6-1, 1-0 to Karolina Muchova of Czechia in the grass-court final in Germany when she wiithdrew. Osaka had taken a medical timeout in the first set. After gesturing that she could not continue she later walked over to shake hands with Muchova. The four-time grand slam champion Osaka is seeded No 14 at Wimbledon and is scheduled to play Elsa Jacquemot in the first round.