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| Jessica Pegula (photo by Daniel Ward) |
Quarterfinal Friday began today at the Credit One Charleston Open with top seed and defending champion Jessica Pegula playing—and winning—yet another three-set match. This time, Pegula defeated 7th seed Diana Shnaider 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. The Russian player is tricky and tends to move well on clay, and it took Pegula a while to adjust. In addition, it probably didn’t help Shnaider that her leg was heavily bandaged.
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| Diana Shnaider (photo by Daniel Ward) |
Pegula’s victory today marks the fourth consecutive year that she has advanced to the semifinals in Charleston.
After the match, Pegula (who, by the way, chose to play first today, despite having played a tough afternoon match on Thursday) said that she did get frustrated, having to go three sets again, but that “…for me, it’s always fine as long as I don’t let it linger on and creep into the points….for me, it’s just like, let it out, and then…okay, you still have to compete and think your way through this match.”
”I mean, today,” Pegula said, “I was thinking of what I need to do better from yesterday, like, what are things I need to work on on the clay?”
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| Madison Keys (photo by Daniel Ward) |
The second match featured 2019 champion (and 2015 finalist) and 5th seed Madison Keys and 2022 champion (and 2023 finalist) and 3rd seed Belinda Bencic. Both players are Charleston veterans: This is Keys’ thirteenth appearance at the tournament, and it’s Bencic’s ninth appearance. Keys was seeking her first semifinal of the year; Bencic was seeking a return to the top 10. And after two hours and almost 23 minutes, it was Keys who got her wish, with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory.
After the match, Keys talked about how her attitude toward clay courts has evolved. “I have grown to not dislike clay. …I think that, over the years, I’ve stopped trying to make these drastic changes to how I play tennis. It’s just the smaller tweaks and how can you actually use the court to help your game. And, honestly, I think I almost like clay better than grass. Right? Crazy, I know!”
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| Belinda Bencic (photo by Daniel Ward) |
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| Iva Jovic (photo by Daniel Ward) |
Next was a contest between 14th seed Iva Jovic (making her Charleston debut) and 8th seed Anna Kalinskaya. Last night, Kalinskaya’s service stats were remarkable: Her first serve win percentage was almost 78, and her second serve win percentage was 70. Today was a different story—those numbers were 55 and 32, respectively. Jovic won the match, 6-3, 6-4, and became the third USA player to advance to the semifinals.Jovic said that playing in Charleston this week taught her “a lot about mental strength…I think I’ve done a really good job of just riding the wave and being okay being uncomfortable sometimes.”
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| Yuliia Stardubtseva (photo by Daniel Ward) |
The last quarterfinal match broke the USA spell. Yuliia Starodubtseva defeated McCartney Kessler 6-4, 6-4. “I can’t say I expected this,” the 26-year-old Ukrainian player said when she talked with the press, “but I feel like I played great the whole tournament, pretty consistent.”
This is Starodubtseva’s first tour-level semifinal. She played tennis for Old Dominion University, and also coached adults and children at Westchester Country Club in New York. I asked her if being a coach made it easier or harder to pick a coach. “Harder,” she said. “I feel like I’m a great coach, so I have high standards. Her current coach is her boyfriend, who played on the men’s team in college, and she has recently added another member to the coaching team.
In doubles, Desirae Krawczyk and Caty McNally received a walkover when Elisabetta Cocciaretto and Yulia Putintseva withdrew from the tournament because of Cocciaretto’s left leg injury. In the other semifinal, Anna Bondar and Magdalena Frech upset 4th seeds Miyu Kato and Giuliana Olmos, 6-1, 6-4.
Jessica Pegula (1) v. Iva Jovic (4)
Madison Keys (5) v. Yuliia Starodubtseva
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