Pegula battles past Cocciaretto in another Charleston three-setter

Jessica Pegula's title defense at the Credit One Charleston Open is still alive, though a straightforward match continued to elude the No. 1 seed in the third round on Thursday. Twenty-four hours after holding off Yulia Putintseva in a 3-hour, 10-minute marathon, Pegula needed to come from 4-1 down in the third set to escape No. 14 seed Elisabetta Cocciaretto 1-6, 6-1, 7-6(1) in 2 hours and 5 minutes.

Charleston: Scores | Draws | Order of play 

The American was two points from defeat down 5-4 in the third set, but from 6-5 down reeled off 11 of the last 12 points of the match to advance to her 10th consecutive quarterfinal on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz. Pegula's last loss before the last eight of a tournament was to Magda Linette in the Cincinnati third round last August.

The result also bolstered Pegula's ever-impressive third-set statistics even further. She's now 8-1 in three-set matches in 2026, and 17-4 since the US Open.

"It was a challenge, she was playing really well," Pegula said in her on-court interview. "She beat me the last time we played, so there was a bit of a mental thing too, but I was able to serve really well, I think, at the end. And then I just held my nerve ...

"I found a couple of good patterns -- I was hitting my backhand pretty well, and I just wanted to stick with what felt good in the moment. That was my backhand down the line, I think I came up with some big ones at the end that kind of saved me."

Pegula will next face No. 7 seed Diana Shnaider, who raced past No. 9 seed Leylah Fernandez 6-3, 6-0 in 1 hour and 25 minutes -- a match that was tighter and higher-quality than the scoreline suggests, with all but one game in the second set going to at least 30-30. A phenomenal forehand on the run from Shnaider to break for 5-3 in the first set was one of the best shots of the tournament to date. Pegula holds a 2-0 head-to-head lead over Shnaider, having defeated her in the 2024 Toronto semifinals and US Open fourth round.

Set one: A free-hitting Cocciaretto dominates

Ten months ago, Cocciaretto was ranked No. 122 after she'd spent 2024 recovering from a bout of mycoplasma virus pneumoniae. The Italian's resurgence has since taken her back up to No. 40 this week -- and Pegula would have been familiar with her return to form, given that Cocciaretto kickstarted it by upsetting her in the first round of Wimbledon last year.

Since then, Cocciaretto has captured her second WTA title in Hobart and made the Doha quarterfinals via another Top 5 upset of Coco Gauff, and the 25-year-old brought that form into the first set. She tallied eight winners to just five unforced errors, landed 70% of her first serves and saved all four break points against her.

Set two: Pegula finds her serve and volleys

Given her exertions of the previous day, Pegula could have been forgiven for considering a comeback even more of an uphill battle than usual. But few players are as adept at mid-match adjustments as the 32-year-old -- and just as in the second set of her win over Putintseva, they involved coming forwards more. A slew of volley winners garnered Pegula a foothold in the match for the first time, and her breakthrough came as the Cocciaretto forehand began to miss its targets in the fourth game.

Pegula's serve also showed a marked improvement. Having made just 50% of her first deliveries in the first set, she landed 86% of them in the second.

Set three: Pegula holds nerve amid momentum shifts

Though Pegula maintained her high level of serving in the decider, landing 71% of her first serves, the same was not true of her ground game at its outset. A netted forehand handed an immediate break to Cocciaretto, who built on it with a terrific drop shot-lob combination to move out to 4-1.

"I think it helps me also just to think very clearly when I'm in a tough situation," Pegula said to press. "And I really felt like I had to tap into that today where I just felt sometimes I wasn't like thinking out there, for whatever reason.

"I just had to kind of dial in to like finding that temperament, finding that problem-solving state of mind. And I think if you get too emotional, like it's really hard to do that sometimes, at least for me."

But while Pegula remained steady, Cocciaretto's level fluctuated wildly as the match drew to a close. A double fault and two cheap forehand errors gifted the break back in the seventh game. She managed to fight off two break points to hold for 5-4, but once there could not take advantage of a 0-30 lead to close Pegula out. At 30-30, Cocciaretto had an open court to aim her passing shot into, but once again netted the forehand.

Cocciaretto played her best game of the set -- and arguably one of her best of the match -- to stave off another break point and hold for 6-5. But that was the last of her challenge. Pegula held to love and the ensuing tiebreak saw Cocciaretto spray forehands and backhands wide, long and into the net, culminating in an unfortunate double fault on match point.