Angelique Kerber presents itself in top form shortly before the French Open begins. The German number one won the WTA tournament in Strasbourg on Saturday and thus celebrated a perfect dress rehearsal for the classic sandplace, which started in Paris this Sunday. Kerber prevailed in the final of the event endowed with 203 024 euros in a real thriller against Slovenin Kaja Juvan with 7: 6 (7: 5), 6: 7 (0: 7), 7: 6 (7: 5).

For Kerber (34) it was the first tournament victory since winning the lawn event in Bad Homburg in June last year. The three-time Grand Slam tournament winner had last triumphed in Stuttgart six years ago on sand. The Kieler used her second match ball against Juvan after 3:14 hours. Overall, it was the 14th title in her career.

“It was a great week for me,” said Kerber after her triumph. “I increased from game to game and in the end I was just lucky.” After more than three hours, Kerber made the victory perfect with a spectacular passenger ball. She received 26 770 euros for her victory.

After a series of defeats, Kerber had accepted a wildcard for the tournament to collect with a view to the French Open game practice. This plan worked perfectly. In Paris, Kerber cheekily meets Polish Magdalena in the first round.

Kerber and the Juvan, which was 13 years younger, fought a great fight for three sentences. In the first two sentences, Kerber collected a quick break early, but fought back both times, so that the decision had to be made in the tie -break. In the first sentence, Kerber had the better end there for himself, in the second section Juvan won the set equalization with a 7-0 in the tie -break.

In the third round, Kerber initially took the serve from the Slovenin, but immediately received a re-break. The decision had to be made again in the tiebreak. In the end, Kerber won the title with great willpower.