Washington (United States) (AFP) – Top seed Jessica Pegula once again fought back from a set down to reach the WTA Charleston Open semi-finals with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win against Russia’s Diana Shnaider on Friday. Defending champion Pegula has lost the first set in all three matches so far, but again dug deep to maintain her hopes of retaining the title.
The world number five from the United States took two hours and 10 minutes to defeat 19th-ranked Shnaider, relying on a formidable service game that included eight aces. Shnaider battled well in the first two sets and broke early for a 2-0 lead in the final set, before losing six straight games.
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Pegula, chasing her second tournament victory of the year after winning the title in Dubai in February, will face fourth-seeded fellow American Iva Jovic, who beat Russian Anna Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-4. Despite a first-round bye, Pegula has clocked up nine sets and more than seven hours on court so far. She has won nine of 10 matches this year that have gone to a deciding third set.
On the other side of the draw, fifth-seeded American Madison Keys booked her semi-final spot with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over third-seeded Swiss Belinda Bencic in a battle of former Charleston champions. Keys’s comeback win over 2022 champion Bencic has her back in the semi-finals for the first time since her own title run in 2019.
Keys, who is in her first WTA semi-final of the year, will face Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva for a place in the final. Starodubtseva beat American McCartney Kessler 6-4, 6-4.
© 2024 AFP
