1 day Ago
It will be an all-American final in the Credit One Charleston Open on Sunday. U.S.
star Jessica Pegula, the winningest tennis player on the WTA Tour this year, clawed her way into the final with a 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 victory over Ekaterina Alexandrova on Saturday at Credit One Stadium. “It took everything I had,” Pegula told a huge crowd on Daniel Island. Pegula, ranked No.
4 and the top seed in Charleston, will face either No. 8 seed Amanda Anisimova or unseeded Sofia Kenin, both of the U.S.
, in Sunday’s final. Pegula, 31, is one of the best runs of form in her career, with a WTA-best 24 match victories this season. She’s made the finals in three of her last four tournaments, including a title in Austin this year.
But she found herself in a fight against the 30-year-old Alexandrova, a native of Russia who is ranked No. 26. Alexandrova was up 4-2 in the third set and serving for a 5-2 lead.
A double fault, her seventh of the match, on break point kept Pegula in the fight at 4-3. At 5-5, and with the crowd fully behind her, Pegula raced to retrieve a drop shot and Alexandrova netted her backhand return for the crucial break and a 6-5 Pegula lead. Pegula cashed in her second match point with a backhand winner, ending the 2 hour and 20-minute marathon as the fans roared.
Against defending champ Danielle Collins in the quarters, Pegula was down a set and 2-0 in the second before rebounding for a 1-6, 6-3, 6-0 win..
