Pegula goes back-to-back in Charleston for second title of 2026

Find a way.

That was Jessica Pegula’s story all week in Charleston, where she came from a set down in each of her first three matches and won four straight three-setters to reach Sunday’s final against Yuliia Starodubtseva.

In the end, she saved her sharpest performance for when it mattered most. Pegula defeated the first-time finalist 6-2, 6-2 in 1 hour and 22 minutes to win the Credit Open Charleston Open, successfully defending her title. She is the tournament’s first repeat champion since Serena Williams in 2013.

“Thank you to the fans who’ve supported me throughout this whole week,” Pegula said during the trophy presentation. “There were many three-set matches. It’s been such a long week for me, and you guys brought me through so many matches every single day. So thank you so much. I love playing here.”

The victory gives Pegula her second title of 2026, following her WTA 1000 triumph in Dubai in February, and the 11th singles title of her career. She is now 11-11 in WTA singles finals and leads the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz with 24 wins this season.

Speaking of 11, that’s also how many hours she spent on court this week -- 11 hours and 22 minutes to be exact. Her run began with a 3-hour, 10-minute win over another Yulia, Yulia Putintseva, a marathon that set the tone for the grind to come.

Match report: While the subsequent wins over Elisabetta Cocciaretto, Diana Shnaider and Iva Jovic only added to the wear and tear from that opening match, none of it showed in Sunday’s final. Pegula trailed briefly on serve at 2-1, but she rattled off five straight games to take the first set in just over half an hour.

The turning point came at 2-2, when a Starodubtseva forehand miss into the open court gave Pegula a small opening at 30-30. Another forehand error on the next point handed her a break point, and though she didn’t convert that one, a third miss off the same wing for Starodubtseva delivered Pegula the break.

Her five-game run in the first set stretched to 10 straight as she built a 5-0 lead in the second. Serving for the match, she hit a brief snag in a 12-minute game in which Starodubtseva saved three championship points and earned her first break of the afternoon. But Pegula righted the ship two games later.

A clean forehand strike to open the final game set the table for a tidy love hold, and 15 minutes after her first opportunity, she converted her fourth championship point to cap a dominant Easter Sunday performance.

Stat pack: Pegula had nearly everything working. Her placement was pinpoint off both wings, and she mixed in variety -- drop shots, slices and her trademark net play -- to keep Starodubtseva off balance. That blend helped her win 56% of return points against an opponent whose serve typically plays up on clay.

But it was Pegula’s own serve, which has drawn attention recently for its added pop, that stood out. She hit three aces and, outside of the marathon game while first serving for the match, faced just two break points all afternoon.

She dropped only six points on her first serve, winning 26 of 34 for a nearly 77% clip.

Look ahead: Carrying anything close to that success rate into the rest of the clay season would serve Pegula well as she looks to improve on Round of 32 exits in Madrid and Rome last year and a fourth-round showing at Roland Garros. She’ll begin her transition to the red clay in Europe as the World No. 5, where she will remain when Monday’s PIF WTA Rankings are released.

Starodubtseva, meanwhile, is set for a significant jump. After entering the week at No. 89, she is projected to rise to a career-high No. 53, 10 spots above her previous best of No. 63. It comes on the heels of a surprise run that saw the 26-year-old only receive automatic main-draw entry after a late withdrawal.

By week’s end, she had knocked off home favorites McCartney Kessler and Madison Keys en route to her first WTA final, earning the respect of her peers along the way.

“Congrats to Yuliia,” Pegula said. “Amazing tennis this week. Nothing but good luck to you and your team. And if anyone doesn’t know, she has an amazing story. So I encourage you guys to get to know her a little bit more and continue cheering her on.”

The Player’s Box sweep

Pegula wasn’t the only member of her podcast quartet to leave Charleston with hardware. Earlier in the day, Desirae Krawczyk partnered with Caty McNally to win the doubles title. The American duo defeated Anna Bondar and Magdalena Frech 6-3, 6-2 in 1 hour and 11 minutes to claim the trophy on home soil.

And to think their partnership nearly fell apart before it even began. 

“My original partner was supposed to play in this tournament with me, but she ended up pulling out,” Krawczyk said in their post-match press conference. “So then I needed to re-pair, and I was kind of scrambling to find anyone, because it was very last minute. I texted a bunch of people and texted Caty hoping she responded right away. 

“She left me on ‘read’ for a while. I think she was trying to figure out scheduling, but it worked out and here we are.”

It’s the second Charleston title for Krawczyk, who also won the event with Danielle Collins in 2023, and the 13th doubles title of her career. The 2020 French Open runner-up in women’s doubles is also a four-time Grand Slam champion in mixed doubles.

For McNally, it’s her ninth WTA doubles title and her first since 2024. The two-time US Open women’s doubles runner-up helped the pair knock off No. 1 seeds Aleksandra Krunic and Zhang Shuai in the quarterfinals en route to the title.

“It’s been a great week,” McNally said. “I think we’ve grown a lot each match, learned each other’s game styles and figured out what worked well together. Each match we got so much better and were able to assert ourselves, and honestly, just have a lot of fun. I think that was the most important thing.”