Pegula sets up all-American Charleston final with Kenin

Charleston, April 6 (IANS) No. 1 seed Jessica Pegula battled into her first One Charleston Open final, twice coming back from a break down in the third set to pull off a 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 semifinal victory over No. 9 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova.

With a topsy-turvy two-hour, 18-minute victory over Alexandrova, the top seed Pegula is into her second straight singles final of the spring, following up on her run at the WTA 1000 Miami Open. She has now reached finals in three of her last four tournaments, a run that includes the WTA 250 Austin title.

Pegula's win over Alexandrova was her 24th WTA main-draw victory of the year, putting her one ahead of Aryna Sabalenka's 23, according to WTA.

“She’s beaten me the last couple of times. Every time it’s the same: I win the first set, she wins the second, then she wins the third. I’m like, ‘What do I have to do to beat this girl?’ It took everything today. Maybe a little bit of luck, maybe a little bit of the crowd. I do think I did some stuff differently today than I have in the past, so I’m proud that I was able to do that and trust that," said Pegula.

Pegula will now face her fellow American Sofia Kenin in Saturday's final. The 2020 Australian Open champion Kenin advanced when another American, No. 8 seed Amanda Anisimova, retired from their semifinal due to a right hip injury. Kenin was leading 5-2 in the first set when Anisimova stopped play.

"I’m feeling very good with the level I’ve played throughout the week It’s unfortunate that Amanda had to retire, I wish her a speedy recovery. She’s had a great year and I just wish her the best," Kenin said.

This will be the first all-American final at Charleston since Martina Navratilova beat Jennifer Capriati in the 1990 final.

--IANS

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