About an hour into Sunday’s final at the Credit One Charleston Open, Jessica Pegula hit the wall.
After winning the first set against Sofia Kenin, the top seed quickly found herself staring at a 5-1 deficit, and potentially, a third consecutive three-set match if she wanted to win her first-ever clay-court title at tour level.
Until she didn’t, and wasn’t. The world No. 4 swatted away three set points on serve in the seventh game of the second set to kick off a run of six straight games that captured her a second title in her last four tournaments, 6-3, 7-5.
“I just realized how tired I was,” Pegula told Tennis Channel post-match. “She started to play a high level, there were a couple of games I didn’t get out of, didn’t break, didn’t hold. It was super windy, super tough conditions. If you lost focus for a split second or stopped moving your feet for a second, it just swings so fast. It was the same way for both of us.”
“In the second set, I just wanted to hold, I just wanted to tell myseld to get momentum for the third, because coming into a third like that never feels good,” she continued. “I knew I could break her, too. I honestly didn’t think I was going to break her twice, but luckily, I could play some good tennis.”
