Pegula to play third consecutive semifinal in Charleston today

Jessica Pegula, Ekaterina Alexandrova (photos by Daniel Ward)

When Jessica Pegula walks onto the court today, she'll be making her third consecutive semifinal appearance in Charleston; she lost to Belinda Bencic in 2023 and to Daria Kasatkina in 2024. It will also be her eighth appearance at the Charleston Open. Pegula, currently ranked number 4 in the world, is the top seed in Charleston.

Pegula, who holds an 18-12 tour level semifinal win record, will face 9th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in today's semifinal. The Russian player has a 2-1 record against the top seed, but her one loss to her was on clay (Rome, 2021). This is Alexandrova's fourth appearance in Charleston, and her second appearance in semifinals--she lost to eventual champion Belinda Bencic in 2022.

Amanda Anisimova, Sofia Kenin (photos by Daniel Ward)

In today's second semifinal, 8th seed Amanda Anisimova takes on unseeded Sofia Kenin. This is Anisimova's second run to the Charleston semifinals; she lost to Ons Jabeur in 2022. A win for Anisimova today would mark her best WTA 500 performance.

This is Kenin's seventh appearance at the Charleston Open; prior to this week, she had never made it past the second round. Kenin played her only other clay court semifinal in 2020 at the French Open, where she would go on to be a finalist. She and Anisimova have played each other only twice before, in 2017; Anisimova won their match on clay.