Jessica Pegula successfully defended her Credit One Charleston Open title, defeating Yuliia Starodubtseva 6-2, 6-2 in one hour and 21 minutes. The top seed recorded her first straight-sets victory of the week and extended a run in Charleston to 10 consecutive match wins.

Pegula had been tested through the earlier rounds, surviving four consecutive three-set matches to reach the final on Daniel Island. In each of those matches she trailed by at least 0-2 in the deciding set. “It’s been a little bit of a roller coaster for me. But, yeah, my sense of humor keeps me going, I guess,” she said after defeating No. 7 seed Diana Shnaider in the quarterfinals. Her semifinal victory over Iva Jovic was the first time that week she took the opening set.

Starodubtseva, a 26-year-old Old Dominion University alum, produced a breakthrough week to reach her first WTA final. The Ukrainian beat McCartney Kessler and 2019 champion Madison Keys in consecutive rounds, a run that is projected to lift her into the Top 60 for the first time.

Sunday’s final began with exchanged service holds, but Pegula took control with a decisive break in the fifth game and then ran off 10 straight games to open a lead of a set and three breaks. Up 5-0 in the second set, Pegula earned a championship point after a well-struck drop shot, yet Starodubtseva rallied to save three championship points and turned a marathon 12-minute game into a break on her fourth opportunity, avoiding a second-set bagel.

Starodubtseva continued to fight, erasing a 0-30 deficit on her serve to force Pegula to serve the match out again. Pegula closed the match by serving out the final game at love.

The victory ensures Pegula remains inside the Top 5. Starodubtseva will move forward into the clay-court season despite the loss, where her heavy topspin game may yield further opportunities. At last year’s Mutua Madrid Open she reached the fourth round as a qualifier.

Yuliia Starodubtseva moved quickly from a first post-match press conference to the biggest match of her career to date, reaching her first WTA final at the Credit One Charleston Open.

Less than 24 hours after speaking to the media on Friday, the Old Dominion University alum produced a composed performance to beat former champion Madison Keys, 6-1, 6-4, and secure a spot in the title match. Meant to play qualifying in Charleston, the world No. 89 was a late addition to the main draw and took full advantage of the chance, dropping just one set on her way to the final.

Starodubtseva’s route to the championship match has been hard-earned. She broke into the professional scene through UTR tournaments and balanced tennis with part-time work at a country club in Westchester, New York. Those experiences framed her rapid rise at the event and underlined the unusual path she has taken to this point.

Her semifinal win over Keys offered few signs of nerves. The victory sets up a championship clash with the defending champion, Jessica Pegula.

When asked about her comfort on the court and with the crowd, Starodubtseva answered directly:

Q. Congrats on getting your first final. You seem very comfortable in this environment, comfortable out on the court like you’ve been here all along. Is this something you’ve envisioned for a long time?

YULIIA STARODUBTSEVA: It’s funny thing you say that. We’ve been talking about it for a year, how I thrive on big stages. I may not perform on small stages sometimes, which I’m trying to fix. Hopefully I won’t need to play on so many small stages!

I feel like I belong here and I feel comfortable with a big crowd, feeling the noise. I feel it kind of inspires me and gives me more motivation.

“After watching her this week in Charleston, I’m convinced Jessica Pegula has magical powers,” Chris Evert tweeted after the defending champion rallied once more to reach the Credit One Charleston Open final.

The defending champion again leaned on late-match resolve, claiming a 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 victory over Iva Jovic to advance. It was the fourth match this week in which Pegula trailed 0-2 in the final set before reversing course and advancing.

“I guess my super power for this week is, I don’t know, maybe my stamina, my mental fortitude,” Pegula said, giving a more academic assessment of Evert’s tweet. “I don’t know what it is, but, yeah, I guess that’s a big compliment coming from Chrissie.

“So, I think, yeah, maybe also like cat with nine lives. I’ve heard that a few times, too. I do feel a bit more like that than a super power, to be honest. Maybe just a little lucky.”

Pegula has been remarkably consistent since last summer, reaching at least the quarterfinals of every tournament she has entered since the 2025 US Open. She also captured a title earlier this season at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and now will face Yuliia Starodubtseva in the Charleston final. Starodubtseva, 26, advanced after upsetting Madison Keys to reach the biggest final of her career.

“She played pretty lights out today, it seems like,” Pegula said in her post-match press conference. “I’m kind of taking a mental couple hours before I have to tap into kind of maybe watching some of her matches and see what she’s done really well and what she’s been doing here too.”

Pegula also discussed gains to her serve over the past year and how those improvements have come.

“It wasn’t really like super intention as far as like I wasn’t necessarily working on it,” Pegula clarified. “I’m always working a little bit on placement and getting my serve bigger, but it kind of just happened naturally with all the stuff that we’ve been working on. I haven’t really changed much, to be honest, as far as using my legs or my motion. It’s really more just, I think, using my hand. And I have a pretty live arm. And so I’ve always thought my serve could be much bigger for my size, because with my arm being pretty live for all tall I am.

“So, I’ve always kind of been like, ‘Why isn’t my serve bigger?’ So, we’ve had to figure out certain ways to kind of tap into that. And, yeah, I don’t know. It’s worked, I guess.”

As she closes in on a second straight Charleston crown, Pegula emphasized experience as a resource.

“I definitely try to use my experience, and I think that is something that can’t necessarily be taught. That’s something that you have to go through, and I’ve definitely gone through a lot and gained so much experience and try to use it as a confidence boost, not so much as a negative thing.”