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| Sofia Kenin (photo by Daniel Ward) |
2020 Australian Open champion and French Open runner-up Sofia Kenin, unseeded at the Credit One Charleston Open, found her game in a big way this week, taking out a resurgent Belinda Bencic, 5th seed Daria Kasatkina and, today, Anna Kalinskaya, 6-4, 6-3. Kenin, who has yet to drop a set, will face Amanda Anisimova in the semifinals.
One of the things that commentators talked about today was that--when she's "on"--it's very difficult for anyone to beat Kenin. And something that I remember about her run to both the Australian and French Open finals five years ago was her blessedly short memory; when she made an error or a wrong shot choice, she just moved on, with no energy wasted on regret or anger.
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| Jessica Pegula (photo by Daniel Ward) |
In today's first quarterfinal, top seed Jessica Pegula faced off against defending champion Danielle Collins, and nothing about that match felt like anything what I imagine most people were expecting. Collins steamrolled through the first set, taking it 6-1. And while I doubt that anyone thought that Pegula was going to just roll over in the second set (and she didn't), I also don't think that anyone was expecting Collins to implode. The 7th seed began making uncharacteristic errors--and then continued making them, easing the way for Pegula to defeat her, 1-6, 6-3, 6-0.
Collins looked out of sorts in the second and third sets, and later--when she met with the press--she said that she was feeling out of sorts in the first set, too, despite her dominant display. When a member of the media remarked that Collins must have been feeling pretty good after the first set, she replied that " Yeah. Surprising that I actually wasn't. I think I just got into my own head about stuff and just didn't--wasn't--yeah, wasn't in a positive mindset today, and it cost me the match."
Pegula is now 6-0 against Collins.
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| Ekaterina Alexandrova (photo by Daniel Ward) |
9th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova won her quarterfinal match against an injured Zheng Qinwen, whose ongoing arm/elbow injury disabled her excellent serve. Alexandrova held her nerve--something players don't always do against elite injured opponents--and defeated Zheng 6-1, 6-4.
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| Amanda Anisimova (photo by Daniel Ward) |
And finally, two more USA players contested the last quarterfinal--8th seed Amanda Anisimova and 4th seed Emma Navarro. The stands were packed, and the players didn't disappoint. Anisimova won a tight first set 7-5, which was followed by six breaks in a row. Navarro then held, but was immediately broken. About this time, the commentators declared Anisimova to be cooked, but the Doha champion begged to differ, and at 5-all, she broke Navarro's serve.
To add to the drama, Anisimova then had to have a blister treated. Following the treatment, she served for the match, but was broken (of course), which led to a second set tiebreak, which Anisimova won decisively, giving her a 7-6, 7-6(1) victory. Anisimova is now 3-0 against Navarro.
Here is the semifinal singles draw:
Jessica Pegula (1) vs. Ekaterina Alexandrova (9)
Amanda Anisimova (8) vs. Sofia Kenin
The semifinals are also set in doubles. Top seeds Alona Ostapenko and Erin Routliffe will play Hailey Baptiste and Caty McNally, and 3rd seeds Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk will compete against Diana Shnaider and Peyton Stearns.
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