Charleston Open defending champion defends for over three hours

4-6, 6-4, 7-5 Comeback Complete 🫵@JPegula fends off the always tricky Putintseva in 3 hours and 9 minutes to kick off her campaign in the Lowcountry!#CharlestonOpen pic.twitter.com/cEKR1aoS0N

— Credit One Charleston Open (@CharlestonOpen) April 1, 2026

"She's a nightmare." 

Charleston top seed and defending champion Jessica Pegula had played Yulia Putintseva three times before today, and she had won all three of those matches in straight sets. But those matches were played on hard courts, and clay is the surface on which the Kazakstani is best able to use her considerable bag of tricks. And use them she did, against Pegula--the slices, drop shots, high energy groundstrokes. 

"She's a nightmare," Pegula said after the match. "Like, if there's one person in the draw I would really not want to play first match on clay, she was like, the number one, probably, person in the draw. And she's really tricky...."

Pegula served for the match at 5-3 in the third set, but was broken. She said that she felt tight, serving for the match, and "I think I tried to be too cute and hit a couple of drop shots. That probably wasn't a good idea." She was also unable to hold serve at 5-4, and the tension intensified. But Pegula, who is known for not letting anything upset her too much, held her ground and left the court with a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory. She and Putintseva played for three hours and ten minutes, and spectators got to see some superb competition.

Also winning today was wild card Paula Badosa, who upset 10th seed Maria Sakkari 6-3, 6-4. "It gives me belief again," the former world number 2 said, "like that I can come back, that I have the level, that I can compete against these players, that they can do amazing points, amazing games, and I can fight through that again."

The tournament's other wild card, Bianca Andreescu, didn't have as good an outcome. 2025 finalist Sofia Kenin defeated her 6-4, 6-4, and if this match had a name, it would be "Drop Shot Me to Hell." Both players used the drop shot repeatedly, and not always successfully, in a contest that was often dictated by Kenin. However, in the last half of the second set, Andreescu--who had looked a bit tired--started to display the guile that brought her fame before injuries interrupted her career. The tension picked up considerably, but it was Kenin who was able to claim victory.

2019 champion Madison Keys won her match (6-2, 6-3) against Donna Vekic, Leylah Fernandez defeated Polina Kudermetova 6-2, 6-1, and Peyton Stearns squeaked by countrywoman Ashlyn Krueger 7-6(8), 7-5. Also winning today were Anna Bondar, Yuliia Starodubtseva, McCartney Kessler, and Elisabetta Cocciaretto.

And finally, 4th seed Iva Jovic defeated Alycia Parks in straight sets. At the Media Day event, Jovic said that one of her goals was to add more variety to her game, and she reported that she was able to do that today by mixing up her return positions a bit more, and also mixing up her serve, making her second serve more effective. Tomorrow, Jovic will face off against Kenin in the third round.