After Three Straight Semis, Pegula At Last Into COCO Final

KENIN ADVANCES WHEN ANISIMOVA RETIRES DUE TO INJURY

Third time’s the charm for Jessica Pegula, who after three consecutive trips to the Credit One Charleston Open semifinals is finally through to the title match.

With a topsy-turvy two-hour, 18-minute 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 victory over ninth seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, the top seed Pegula is into her second straight singles final of the spring, following up on her run at the WTA 1000 Miami Open. She has now reached finals in three of her last four tournaments, a run that includes the WTA 250 Austin title.

Pegula knew she was in for a battle on Saturday. The 31-year-old baseliner had come up short in her last two encounters with Alexandrova, most recently a 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 loss in the Doha quarterfinals in February. The plan was to mix things up, throw in some slices and drop shots, and, most importantly, keep the ball out of Alexandrova’s strike zone.

Easier said than done.

“I know that when she gets onto my pace and my ball, I have to try and change it up and not keep giving it to her in the slot all the time,” said Pegula, seeking her second title of 2025. “But she makes it very difficult to do that. Luckily, today I was able to scrape out a few ugly points.”

Pegula is into her second straight final.

“She’s beaten me the last couple of times,” she continued. “Every time it’s the same: I win the first set, she wins the second, then she wins the third. I’m like, ‘What do I have to do to beat this girl?’ It took everything today. Maybe a little bit of luck, maybe a little bit of the crowd. I do think I did some stuff differently today than I have in the past, so I’m proud that I was able to do that and trust that.”

Alexandrova, 30, was slowed by seven double faults in a nervy match that featured a combined 13 breaks of serve.

Should Pegula go on to win the clay-season opener, she will supplant Coco Gauff as the top-ranked American. But she’ll first have to find a way past resurgent countrywoman Sofia Kenin, who advanced when Amanda Anisimova retired trailing 5-2 in the opening set of their semifinal due to an apparent back injury.

“I told her I hope she feels better and recovers well because it’s a long clay swing and she’s been playing some great tennis throughout the year,” said Kenin, No. 44 in the PIF WTA Rankings. “I wish her the best of luck.”

Pegula holds a slight 3-2 edge in career head-to-heads against Kenin, including a 7-6(4), 6-3 second-round decision last year at the US Open.

What would it mean for Kenin to raise the trophy on Sunday?

“It would be amazing,” said the 2020 Australian Open champion. “I’m obviously going to do the best I can to get the title. I got here and I’m just going to go for it. But regardless of what happens, I’m really happy with this week and very positive. I’ll take every positive thing that I’ve done here. And I think clay season is going to be a good swing. Very excited for it, to be honest.”

Sofia Kenin.