Three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber of Germany captured her first outdoor clay-court title after a nail-biting 7-6(5), 6-7(0), 7-6(5) win over Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan at the Internationaux de Strasbourg on Sunday.

In the longest WTA Tour singles final of the season so far, the former World No. 1 needed 3 hours and 16 minutes to clinch her first title of the season and 14th of her career. The current World No. 22’s most recent clay-court trophy was on home soil in Stuttgart back in 2016.

In their only previous meeting, Juvan upset Kerber at the 2020 French Open with a straight sets win. But the 34-year-old battled through the three tiebreak sets to take home the crown and level their head-to-head series at 1-1.

"Playing three tiebreaks in the final shows that it was a really close and tough battle, and I’m really happy how I played at the end, and how I played the last point, actually!" said Kerber after the final.

Kerber is now heading to Roland Garros with a winning streak as she approaches a first-round clash with Poland’s Magdalena Frech in Paris. While the 21-year-old Juvan, who is projected to reach a new career-high ranking on next Monday, plays Russian qualifier Oksana Selekhmeteva in her opener.

Meanwhile, in a clash of first-time WTA Tour finalists at the Grand Prix Sar La Princesse Lalla Meryem, Italian Martina Trevisan came away with her maiden title after defeating American Claire Liu 6-2, 6-1 in 1 hour and 32 minutes.

Both players will head to Paris for Roland Garros, where Trevisan faces Britain’s Harriet Dart in the first round and Liu takes on No.24 seed Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia.

(With input from WTA Official)