Pegula defeats Jovic 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 to reach Charleston Open final

In an all-American semifinal, the tour veteran took on the teen phenom. Jessica Pegula, the defending champion and top seed, faced the future of the game in eighteen-year-old Iva Jovic.
The upstart from California has achieved a career high rank of #16 in just her second season on tour. On her tournament debut, she had reached her maiden clay-court tour-level semifinal without the loss of a set.

Pegula, however, had gone the distance every round. This was their second meeting, having played earlier this season in Dubai, where Pegula won in straight sets en route to the title. Jovic won the toss and elected to serve. She made 3/4 first serves and held at love, while Pegula missed 4/5 first serves and was broken.

Jovic faced seven deuce and seven break points before reaching her first game point with a brilliant backhand down the line. While she donated a double fault and faced another deuce point, she managed to consolidate the break when Pegula gifted two consecutive errors.

Photo: AFP

The defending champion opened the fourth with two consecutive forehand winners and held at love to get on the board. Jovic always looking to step in, gifted another double fault, and dropped serve with two consecutive forehand errors.

Pegula donated her first double fault and faced a double break point and deuce, but held for 3-3 when Jovic missed wide with the backhand. The teenager faced a double break point and deuce but held for 4-3 with a fantastic cross-court forehand. Pegula serving with new balls opened with a double fault and faced four deuce and a break point before holding for 4-4 with an incredible inside-out forehand.

Jovic received a time warning on the opening point and, with three more unforced errors, dumped serve. Pegula serving for the set missed 3/6 first serves but secured it courtesy of three consecutive errors from her opponent.

Jovic served first in the second set and, with two consecutive forehand swing volley winners, held easily to 15, while Pegula opened with two consecutive winners and held at love to level.
The world #16 made 5/5 first serves, struck three consecutive winners, and held easily to 15 for 2-1, while Pegula made 5/5 first serves, hit one winner, and held to 15 to level.

Jovic made 3/4 first serves and held at love for 3-2 while the top seed missed four consecutive first serves and donated two more errors before holding to level. Jovic serving with new balls held easily to 15 while Pegula held at love for 4-4.

Jovic hit three consecutive winners, including an ace up the tee to hold at love while the world #5 serving to stay in the set, held to 30 for parity. Jovic opened the eleventh with a colossal forehand down the line and closed with an overhead smash.

Pegula serving to stay in the set and force the breaker, opened with three consecutive errors, including her third double fault, and conceded it when Jovic pummeled a forehand inside-in.

Jovic served first in the third and held to 30 while Pegula’s level of frustration rose in tandem with the unforced errors. Despite hitting her first ace, she gifted six additional errors and dropped serve. Jovic donated her second double fault, faced 0-40, and gave back the break.

Pegula, serving with new balls, continued to misfire and faced three deuce and one break point but held with an assist from three consecutive first serves. Jovic missed three consecutive first serves, faced three deuce, four break points, and dumped serve with a netted backhand.

Pegula struck two consecutive backhand winners and held easily to consolidate the break for 4-2. Jovic opened the seventh with another backhand error but held easily to 15 for 3-4 while the world #5 made 4/5 first serves and held easily to 15 to lead 5-3.

The teenager serving to stay in the match opened with two outstanding winners but soon faced three deuce and three match points before conceding it with another mishit forehand. Despite the loss, it was a bold performance from the young American. She competed well and with poise under pressure.

Pegula had to play three tough sets to overcome a worthy opponent and reach the final. She saved 8/11 break points but converted just 5/19. While she served well enough, she’ll need to drastically reduce the number of unforced errors if she hopes to defend her title.

During the press conference, I asked Pegula if it was a strategic decision to alternate between extended rallies to extract errors and drawing her in since her passing shots were on point. She replied, “I think a little bit. I think my game I definitely like to draw errors from my opponents. I think sometimes I can hit really hard and kind of flat through the middle. And sometimes, even though it may not seem like not an amazing strategy to some people, but I think that the way I hit the ball, it definitely forces someone who is very good. She’s really good at kind of taking time and space away, and I think sometimes when you can force somebody to have to go for things that they’re necessarily not comfortable with, then that can be a very good strategy, and that’s something that I use against a lot of players.”

In the championship match, she’ll face an unfamiliar opponent in world #89, Yuliia Starodubtseva. The twenty-six-year-old Ukrainian, on tournament debut, stunned former world #5 and 2025 Australian Open champion, Madison Keys, in straight sets to reach her maiden tour-level final.

This will be their first meeting with a trophy and 500 ranking points on the line.