Yuliia Starodubtseva closed a breakthrough week at the Credit One Charleston Open as the tournament finalist, falling 6-2, 6-2 to defending champ Jesica Pegula. The Old Dominion University alum leaves Charleston with confidence and a revised short-term plan as she prepares for the European clay swing.

“I was going to play a tournament next week in Madrid; there’s a 125k,” Starodubtseva recalled after a 6-2, 6-2 defeat to defending champ Jesica Pegula. “I was meant to play a 125 in Portugal the following week, and after that I had Madrid 1000.

“I feel like I deserve a little break. You want to take some breaks, and like the more you obviously lose, the more weeks you need to play. So, I find it like a reward in a way that I can take some weeks for myself. I’m also moving places. I have a lot to do, and going to take some days off tennis as well.”

The week included a dominant semifinal victory over 2025 Australian Open champion Madison Keys, and the pressure of competing on a bigger stage was a new experience.

“I call it stimulation,” she said in her post-match press conference. “Like, because you go find a tournament and you play somebody great — like I played Madison Keys in the semis. I couldn’t sleep the night before or fall asleep because all I think about is the match next day. And it is overwhelming, but when you can’t fall asleep and you just keep thinking about like what’s going to happen tomorrow, how are you going to play, what are you going to do, I haven’t found a solution yet how to fix this.

“But I feel like the more I put myself on further stages in the tournaments, I feel like I’ll learn how to cope with it as well.”

Starodubtseva plans to invest part of her Charleston prize money in a traveling physio and believes the week reaffirmed the style she wants to play.

“I feel like I changed up a bit my play style and kind of like realized what type of player I actually am, and I think I’ll try and build from there on,” she said. “I definitely played more aggressive tennis last two weeks, and I think it’s in my nature, and maybe I haven’t been letting myself do it in previous weeks, maybe tried to do more other stuff rather than just keeping it simple and be aggressive in certain moments. And I think this was like the biggest lesson in the last two weeks that I had.”

She is tentatively planning a return to the Mutua Madrid Open, where she reached the fourth round as a qualifier just over a year ago. “I feel like maybe my favorite surface is becoming like fast clay, and Madrid is that,” she told me. “Roland-Garros is that. I did good there as well.

“Here is like the clay is a bit faster. I feel like I did good here as well. So, I’m kind of excited for that tournament, and I know I have to maybe defend a lot of points there, but I feel like I have no pressure here. Just going to try and do my best there.”

“I think [clay] really suits her game,” agreed Pegula. “She’s really tricky. I think maybe she wasn’t playing her best. I think I was playing at a really high level. But then you could see at the end there that, like, she didn’t miss a ball for like two games, and I was like, ‘Oh, she’s going after it right now.’ And I think that’s probably what caused everyone a lot of issues earlier in the week in her earlier rounds here.”

Jessica Pegula successfully defended her title at the Credit One Charleston Open, a defense that made her the first woman since Serena Williams to repeat as champion at the event.

The top seed closed the week with her most commanding match, defeating Yuliia Starodubtseva 6-2, 6-2 in the final. Asked how she planned to display what appear to be matching trophies, Pegula offered an explanation that kept the moment light.

Q. Now that you have a matching set of trophies, have you thought about how you’re going to display them at home?

JESSICA PEGULA: My one from last year is actually slightly broken. I don’t think I ever told Bob [Moran], but it somehow fell off of a table into a suitcase. Thank god for the suitcase, because if it wasn’t there, it would have been shattered. It actually just broke the top, so I’m like, Oh, at least I have another one so I can put it up in place of the old one. It doesn’t look horrible, though, because it’s just the top.

It was literally one of those things that happened in slow motion; I was like, Ah, Oh my God! I was like, I don’t know how that didn’t shatter everywhere. So, yeah, story time. It’ll be next to the other one, though.

Pegula’s comments came after a week in which she controlled the baseline and converted opportunities aggressively. The repeat in Charleston adds another title to her record and leaves her with what she described as an almost matching pair of trophies, the older one bearing the mark of an unfortunate household mishap.

For now, the intact trophy from this week will sit beside last year’s slightly damaged piece, closing out a memorable run at the Credit One Charleston Open.

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.