Top seed Jessica Pegula saved 4 match points and needed 5 of her own to edge past Victoria Azarenka at the WTA 500 Credit One Charleston Open on Friday and she now will meet Daria Kasatkina, who eventually found her way past Jaqueline Cristian, for a place in Sunday’s final.
We were playing some good tennis there at the end. I had match points, 40-love on her serve, and that’s frustrating but I was just trying to stay focused to win and, at the end, I don’t know what happened – I have no idea. Jessica Pegula
In the lower half of the draw, Maria Sakkari stopped Veronika Kudermetova, and set up a Last 4 encounter with Danielle Collins, who continued her impressive run with a win over Elise Mertens.
Pegula, the World No 5, went the distance against two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka on Friday, squandering her 4 match points at the clay court event before denying the Belarusian’s 4 chances to advance, and finally grabbing the win, 6-4 3-6 7-6(7), after a 2 hour and 36 minute battle.
“That was an emotional roller coaster,” Pegula said. “It was like that the entire match. I was playing really well and then I got frustrated I didn’t break in the second, and she, kind of, turned it up a gear.
“I was able to get back in the third, but it was really up and down, I feel, like, from the end of the second, start of the third.
“At the end, it was really windy so a lot of awkward points. It’s tough when it’s windy, playing with your nerves as well. I’m just happy I got through.”
After a run to the quarter-finals in Miami, the 30-year-old American has now won 6 of her last 7 matches.
On a cool, blustery day, and playing as the top seed for only the 6th time in her career, Pegula settled down nicely, and, after a series of twists and turns, the first set came down to two points, and a matter of inches.
Pegula was serving for the set at 5-4 when Azarenka hit one of her classic backhand winners to score a break point chance, but her forehand flew just past the baseline, and her chance evaporated as the American produced a terrific second serve, and a fabulous crosscourt forehand winner finished it.
The second turned in the 3rd game when Pegula broke Azarenka to love, and consolidated in the next game, winning 5 straight points after Azarenka won the first 3.
With Azarenka serving at 1-3, Pegula held 2 break points to extend her lead, but the Belarusian saved them both, and, 5 straight games later, she had taken the match into a third set.
“We were playing some good tennis there at the end,” Pegula said. “I had match points, 40-love on her serve, and that’s frustrating but I was just trying to stay focused to win and, at the end, I don’t know what happened – I have no idea.”
Azarenka’s momentum continued into the third, scoring another break and winning her 6th consecutive game, but that was the first of 4 consecutive breaks to begin the decider, which featured some racket tossing by both in frustration.
After having squandered her chances for the win, then falling behind 6-3 in the breaker, Pegula admitted she was less than confident.
“At 6-3, I didn’t have any trust,” she said. “I was like, ‘Oh, it’s crap. Probably over. Try and hang in there. Win this second point’. Honestly, that’s what I was thinking. I know that sounds awful but it does release a little of the stress because I think I did play the tie-breaker a little nervy.”
In the end, it all came down to 7-all in the match tiebreak, when Azarenka’s forehand deserted her, and 2 misses gave Pegula the match.
“I totally let my emotions get me in the end,” Pegula said later “I started the tiebreak super nervous. I blew the match points. I didn’t play horrible, but I went for it.
“Whenever that happens, you start the tiebreak and you feel like you should have already won. It was super windy because it makes your nerves even worse. Nothing feels good. You’re kind of like wobbling all over the place.”
Daria Kasatkina came from a set down to beat Jaqueline Cristian and set up a Last 4 encounter with Jessica Pegula in Charleston on Saturday
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Next up for Pegula is Daria Kasatkina, the No 4 seed from Russia, who was a 6-7(4) 6-2 6-3 winner over the surprising Romanian, Jaqueline Cristian, in a quarter-final match that lasted 2 hours and 42 minutes.
Pegula is 2-0 against Kasatkina, winning 3 years ago in Rome and last year in the Tokyo quarter-finals.
Having never won a WTA clay-court crown, Pegula has reached 2 semi-finals this year, in Adelaide and San Diego, while her most recent final was last November at the WTA Finals, and her most recent of 4 career WTA titles came last October at Seoul.
Kasatkina, who won the title here in 2017, had to battle back, hard, to beat Cristian, forging 20 break points and managing to convert 10 of them.
The World No 11 has had a tumultuous 2024 season so far, and is looking to the clay court season to stabilise her form.
This week, after a bye in the 1st-round, she kicked off her run with a hard-fought 3-set win over American Ashlyn Krueger, and followed it up with a comfortable straight-set win over Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina, the 15th seed, in the Round of 16.
Her impressive come-back against Cristian from a set down to reach her second semi-finals of the season, will surely boost her confidence.
Maria Sakkari is enjoying her return to clay and was a straight sets winner over Veronika Kudermetova on Day 5 to reach her second semi-final of the year
© Elsa/Getty Images
Meanwhile, Maria Sakkari’s spring surge continues in Charleston, as the No 3 seed from Greece charged into her second semi-final of the year after beating Veronika Kudermetova, the 9th seed from Russia, 6-2 6-4.
She will meet Miami Open champion Danielle Collins, who won twice on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals, ousting Belgian 11th seed Elise Mertens, 6-3 6-4, on Friday, and stretching the American’s win streak to 11 matches.
Collins, who upset 2023 champion Ons Jabeur and fellow American Sloane Stephens on Thursday, broke a 3-3 head-to-head tie with Mertens after an hour and 24 minutes to advance to her 15th career tour-level semi-final, taking the Belgian’s serve 4 times to avenge a 6-2 6-3 defeat to her at January’s Hobart International.
After dropping a lengthy opening 14-point game, Collins broke right back to love, and quickly asserted her baseline presence against Mertens.
The World No 26 did not lose her serve again.
“The thing about Elise, she’s capable of beating any top player on any given day, the way that she hits her shots, and comes out here and battles,” Collins said. “She makes it really difficult for a lot of people.
“Going into it, I knew I had to be really swinging today. I had to go for it. It’s tough in the windy conditions, weather’s kind of changing a little bit. So you have to be aware of that and sometimes bring the targets in.”
Danielle Collins won her 11th consecutive match against Elise Mertens to set up a Last 4 clash with Maria Sakkari
© Elsa/Getty Images
Collins is projected to make her Top 20 return on Monday, a rise that will see her leap-frog Madison Keys and Emma Navarro as the No 3-ranked American heading into the European clay-court season.
It is a notable shake-up, as, 3 weeks ago, Collins was well out of contention to qualify for the Olympic Games in Paris, when she stood at No 53.
“I’m definitely in the zone,” Collins said later. “I think a lot of it has to do with the focus and concentration “Getting so many matches in the beginning of the year was really great for me.
“I feel, like, I’ve done so much training over the course of my life. There’s been seasons where I haven’t gotten to play as many matches, partly because of injuries and the stuff that I live with has held me back at times.
“So it’s really nice that, right now, I’m finding my best form, and being able to play all of these matches week in and week out, and not feel tired. I’m really proud of myself because it’s taken a lot of trial and error and hard work away from the courts.”
The 30-year old American, who is retiring at the end of the season, needed 2 opportunities to serve out the match, after winning 4 straight games in the second set to put herself on the verge of the semi-finals at 6-3, 5-2.
She has now won 11 matches in a row, which is the longest winning streak on the Hologic WTA Tour for a player not named Iga Swiatek, and she has a chance of equalling or surpassing her previous career-long winning streak of 12.
Collins also has won 22 of the 23 sets she has played in her current run.
Sakkari holds a 2-1 head-to-head over Collins as they head into their 4th career meeting, but the American won their last meeting in Canada last year.
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