The Ballad of Three-Set Jess

The Ballad of Three-Set Jess

She came to Charleston from Florida
on a wave of last year’s success.
The others thought they could wear her down,
but they don’t know Three-Set Jess

A feisty trickster tried to send her home
in her stunning turquoise dress.
She lobbed and spun and popped and dropped,
then she lost to Three-Set Jess.

Next, it was an Italian’s turn
to create some clay court stress,
which Italians do throughout the world—
but they can’t beat Three-Set Jess

Then a clever Russian tried 
to make her stumble, fault and guess.
It was quite a show, but in the end,
she folded to Three-Set Jess.

Today, a teen of considerable skill—
and a countrywoman, no less—
took on the job—she won a set,
but was beaten by Three-Set-Jess.

Playing for hours and hours on clay
makes the body and brain a mess.
But if you think it troubles our defending champ,
then you don’t know Three-Set Jess.

Charleston Open semifinalists ready for Saturday action

clockwise from top left: Jessica Pegula, Iva Jovic, Madison Keys, Yuliia Stardubtseva 
(all photos by Daniel Ward)

Three USA players advance to Charleston semifinals

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. 

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?”

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!”

Belinda Bencic (photo by Daniel Ward)

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.”

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.

Here is the singles semifinal draw:

Jessica Pegula (1) v. Iva Jovic (4)
Madison Keys (5) v. Yuliia Starodubtseva 

Pegula prevails in yet another "crazy match" in Charleston

Jessica Pegula (photo by Daniel Ward)

Yesterday, in press, someone reminded top seed and defending champion Jessica Pegula that she has had a series of "crazy type of matches" in Charleston over the last few years. Pegula said that--at one point yesterday, during her match against Yulia Putintseva--she thought of that: "...all these matches started going through my head, and I was just like, 'why, why, why?' I don't know what it is."

 

photo by Daniel Ward

Whatever it is, it struck again today when Pegula played 14th seed Elisabetta Cocciarietto in the third round. The Italian player, whom Pegula described as having a "very sneaky" serve, was successfully going for all the angles in the first set. She quickly went up 3-0, then won the set 6-1. In the second set, Pegula easily dominated, though the rallies remained long and tough; she took that set 6-1. But then, in the third set, Pegula found herself down 1-4. But, as she said to the media after the match, she felt like, at times, she "wasn't thinking out there, for whatever reason. And I just had to kind of dial in to, like, finding that temperament, finding that problem-solving state of mind."

At 4-5 in the third, Pegula was two points from losing the match. At 5-6 down, she delivered eleven of the last twelves points of the match, which she won, 1-6, 6-1, 7-6(1). The world number 5 is now 8-1 in three-set matches in 2026.

 

Belinda Bencic (photo by Daniel Ward)

Pegula wasn't the only top player who had to deal with a very tough opponent. 2022 champion and 3rd seed Belinda Bencic played lefty Czech Sara Bejlek, and the Swiss star said that it took her a while to get used to opponent's style of play. "...I was just about trying to kind of stay there, you know, tried to fight for every point, kind of accepting that it's not going to be the prettiest of my matches."

When asked about mental adjustments that she had to make during the match, Bencic replied that "Sometimes you're almost embarrassed about your mistakes, and ashamed. You're just like, oh, my God, what are people thinking right now? And then you're like, no, you can't think like this. You just go every point. You just try to fight, and yeah, just stay resilient and don't try to play too pretty, just really try to win the match, and that's all that counts."

Madison Keys (photo by Daniel Ward)

 
2029 champion and 5th seed Madison Keys was also victorious today, defeating Anna Bondar 6-2, 7-5. And 7th seed Diana Shnaider celebrated both her birthday and a 6-3, 6-0 victory against Leylah Fernandez (both lefties). Yuliia Starodubtseva defeated Renata Zarazua 6-1, 6-0, and in an all-USA clash, McCartney Kessler upset 17th seed Peyton Stearns, 6-0, 3-6, 6-4. 

 

Iva Jovic (photo by Daniel Ward)

In the first evening match, 4th seed Iva Jovic, who is making her Charleston debut, defeated 2025 finalist Sofia Kenin 7-5, 7-5. It took three match points and over two hours for Jovic to claim victory. Down 4-5 in the second set, Kenin saved two match points. Jovic took a 6-5 lead, then Kenin--who was in obvious pain--took a medical timeout because of her shoulder. When she returned to the court, she was broken for the fifth time, and Jovic claimed victory.

In the second night match, 8th seed Anna Kalinskaya defeated wild card Paula Badosa 6-4, 6-2. Badosa has performed very well at this event, but tonight, she was up against a very in-form Kalinskaya. The 8th seed won with almost 78% of her first serves, and 70% of her second serves. She hit 22 winners, and was broken only once. 

In doubles, top seeds Aleksandra Krunic and Zhang Shuai were upset in the quarterfinals, 6-1, 7-5, by Desirae Krawczyk and Caty McNally.

 

Sara Bejlek (photo by Daniel Ward)

 

 

 

Elisabetta Cocciaretto (photo by Daniel Ward)

Round of 16 underway at the Charleston Open

Belinda Bencic (photo by Daniel Ward)

Playing in the round of 16 this morning in Charleston is 2022 champion and 3rd seed Belinda Bencic. The year that Bencic won the tournament, the runner-up was Ons Jabeur. The next year, Jabeur won, and Bencic was the runner-up. This is the only time that this pattern has ever occurred at the Charleston Open. Bencic made her debut in 2014 and got all the way to the semifinals, in which she was defeated by Jana Cepelova. I recall that being the best match of the tournament. 

Bencic's opponent today is 13th seed Sara Bejlek, who is making her Charleston debut. Bejlek earned her first WTA 500 title this season at Abu Dhabi when she defeated Ekaterina Alexandrova in the final. 

Top seed Jessica Pegula, who had quite a workout yesterday, will compete today against 14th seed Elisabetta Cocciaretto, and 4th seed Iva Jovic will play 16th seed (and 2025 finalist) Sofia Kenin. And wild card Paula Badosa will face off against 8th seed Anna Kalinskaya. 5th seed Madison Keys, 17th seed Peyton Stearns, and Renata Zarazua will also be on the court today, playing Anna Bondar, McCartney Kessler and Yuliia Starodubtseva, respectively. Finally, 9th seed Leylah Fernandez will compete against 7th seed Diana Shnaider. 

Top doubles seeds Aleksandra Krunic and Zhang Shuai will play their quarterfinal match today against Desirae Krawczyk and Caty McNally.

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.

Wild cards have a good day in Charleston

Wilds cards Bianca Andreescu and Paula Badosa both won their first round matches today at the Credit One Charleston Open. Their stories, of course, are somewhat different, but both women have experienced serious injuries that have kept them off the tour and robbed them of their rankings. 

Sweet RELIEF 😌🙌@Bandreescu_ rallies to defeat Galfi 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 in her debut on the green clay!#CharlestonOpen pic.twitter.com/wl18Ka1aIf

— Credit One Charleston Open (@CharlestonOpen) March 31, 2026

Andreescu, playing in Charleston for the first time, defeated Dalma Galfi 1-6, 6-4, 6-1. After the match, the Canadian player spoke highly of her opponent: "...I've played her on every surface now, and every match was very difficult. She has an interesting game style. She hits pretty flat on the backhand. She can roll her forehand and kind of like redirect very well, and now she's started to add like drop shots, slice."

Andreescu said she also had to deal with what she called her opponent's "very tricky serve." She said that she practiced patience today, and that it worked most of the time. Andreescu has been playing on the ITF circuit, and she said that one of the things that she had to adjust to is the difference in court size; the challenger courts are smaller. 

The winner of Indian Wells, Toronto and the U.S. Open in 2019, the former world number 4's very bright future was derailed by repeated injuries, and it has since had many starts and stops. Today marked her first tour-level match win of 2026. 

Paula Badosa (photo courtesy of @CharlestonOpen)

 

Paula Badosa, formerly number 2 in the world, won her opening match against Kayla Day 6-4, 6-3. Talking with the media after the match, Badosa said that she felt very positive and that she had moved well on the clay. She received a lot of crowd support today, and it didn't go unnoticed:

"Maybe when you're playing a lot of matches and you're on the top and everything is like, rolling, you're not very conscious about it. But now that things are not going as well as I would like, I'm really conscious about that....So yeah, it brings me more, maybe, self-esteem and less doubt in a way, and I'm like, okay, let me try to play for them, also. So it pushes me and it gives me this extra motivation, and honestly, for me, it's super, super special." 

photo by Diane Elayne Dees

Another winner today was 2022 champion (and 2023 finalist) and 3rd seed Belinda Bencic, who defeated Dayana Yastremska 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3. 

Also advancing was 8th seed Anna Kalinskaya, who defeated Viktoriya Tomova 6-2, 6-4. Talking with the media after her match, Kalinskaya expressed quite well what makes Charleston different for the players: "...I feel like it's very cozy here, so you feel less pressure. ...it's more peaceful."

13th seed Sara Bejlek advanced to the third round when she defeated Akasha Urhobo 6-1, 6-1.

In doubles, top seeds Aleks Krunic and Zhang Shuai defeated Aldila Sutjaidi and Janice Tjen 7-6(3), 7-5.

Tomorrow, top seed and defending champion Jessica Pegula will face off against Yulia Putintseva, and 2nd seed Ekaterina Alexandrova will play Yuliia Starodubtseva.