Taking part in her second ultimate in simply eight days—after falling to Aryna Sabalenka within the Miami Open—Jessica Pegula staged a dramatic comeback to defeat Sofia Kenin and declare her first Credit score One Charleston Open title in straight units, 6-3 7-5.
The highest-seeded Pegula began sturdy, breaking Kenin within the opening recreation and rapidly constructing a 2-0 lead. She even held two break factors to go up 3-0, however Kenin rallied with three consecutive video games to show the momentum. Nonetheless, that surge would show short-lived. Pegula rapidly regained management, successful the subsequent 4 video games and wrapping up the primary set with two extra breaks.
The second set noticed a flurry of breaks on the outset, with Kenin—2020 Australian Open champion—taking cost and storming to a 5-1 lead. Pegula, dealing with three set factors, confirmed unbelievable resilience. She saved all of them, held serve, and broke Kenin to start an exhilarating comeback. What adopted was a show of grit and expertise as Pegula reeled off six consecutive video games to shut out the match.
This marks Pegula’s eighth profession WTA title and her first in Charleston. It was a breakthrough second within the South Carolina occasion for the American, who had reached the semifinals in every of the previous two years—shedding to Belinda Bencic in 2023 and Daria Kasatkina in 2024—earlier than lastly lifting the trophy this 12 months.
Pegula’s path to the title included a second-round demolition of qualifier Iryna Shymanovich, the place she misplaced simply three video games. She then defeated Ajla Tomljanovic and seventh seed Danielle Collins, earlier than outlasting ninth seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in a grueling, two-hour-plus semifinal that featured 13 breaks of serve. That 6-2 2-6 7-5 victory marked the American’s first-ever semifinal win in Charleston and set the stage for her ultimate showdown in opposition to Kenin, who was the one unseeded participant to achieve the quarterfinals and confirmed flashes of her Grand Slam-winning kind all through the week.
With this victory, Pegula will return to her career-high rating of No. 3, surpassing her compatriot and occasional doubles associate Coco Gauff. The WTA star’s successful attire in Charleston included the sunshine purple Adidas Summer time Match Tank and Adidas Summer time Match Skirt.
