CHARLESTON, S.C. — For Yuliia Starodubsteva, she didn’t have high expectations coming into the Charleston Open.

The Ukranian World No. 89 said that while she knew her level was there, her confidence wasn’t up to par after an up-and-down 2025, and she entered this tournament as a qualifier until a withdrawal moved her into the main draw.

In the Lowcountry, Starodubtseva is having the best tournament of her career, reaching her first career WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz final. She faces defending champion Jessica Pegula for the title.

“I couldn’t like maybe find a steady line where I like stay and maybe play the same level,” Starodubtseva said to press after her Friday quarterfinal win over McCartney Kessler. “I was a bit up and down. I feel like hopefully now I think it is getting better and I’m getting more consistent. The biggest thing I’ve been working on is to bring up my floor, because I feel like my ceiling is there. I can reach my ceiling, but I need my floor to be higher, and I feel I’m doing better with that.”

From her journey to professional tennis to her coaching team, get to know Starodubtseva:

She played collegiately at Old Dominion University

Starodubtseva elected to go the collegiate route abroad from her native Ukraine because at the time she wasn’t financially ready to go professional, and the then 17-year-old decided on Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia in the United States.

“In all fairness, like I was 17 years old, and I had no idea about American colleges,” Starodubtseva said. “It just seemed like a great opportunity, especially at that moment I wasn’t able to go pro. I went to a few (ITF) tournaments. I didn’t do super well. So we weren’t sure, and American college seemed like a great opportunity.”

In spring 2022, she went 22-1 in singles matches, with the lone defeat to — ironically — Kessler, who defeated her in a three-set thriller while competing for the University of Florida. Starodubtseva said she chose Old Dominion because they provided her the most resources to compete, and that there were already fellow Ukrainian players on the team.

“Some coaches reached out, and I kind of just picked the best based on how much they provide for me, and so my parents didn’t need to help, and also I didn’t speak English as well as I do now,” Starodubtseva said. “Also why I made the decision to go to Old Dominion, it was because I had four Ukranians on the team already.”

“I felt like comfortable going there, and they provided me with good full scholarship, food, accommodations. So it was good.”

She coached on green clay for a year at a country club

After graduating from Old Dominion in 2022, Starodubtseva spent a year in Westchester, New York and coached at Westchester Country Club. Funny enough, there are 15 green clay courts at the country club, which Starodubtseva jokingly credited to her success in Charleston. 

“There is an inside joke that I’m so comfortable on green clay because I coached it for a year,” Starodubtseva said. 

As she wasn’t immediately able to go professional following university, she earned income coaching in the suburb of New York City, and played UTR (Universal Tennis Rating) tournaments as the bridge to become professional. Funny enough, she recalled how she also played Kessler in a final of one those events, but this time she had won.

In Friday’s Charleston quarterfinal win over Kessler, her former boss at the country club was in attendance, too. 

Her country club clientele you might ask? 

“Everyone,” Starodubtseva laughed. “I coached a ladies’ clinic, a men’s clinic, kids, camp, whatever you say, 10 hours a day sometimes.”

She’s coached by her longtime partner that she met at Old Dominion

Starodubtseva’s main coach is her boyfriend Pearse Dolan, who played on the men’s team at Old Dominion while Starodubtseva was there. Dolan, of Australia, has coached her for the past year and a half.

She also recently added Eric Hechtman to her team, and he has previously coached Peyton Stearns, Venus Williams and more. Starodubtseva said they’re sort of in a “trial” period before committing to him long-term.

“My main coach has been my boyfriend. We met each other in college. He was on the men’s team, and I was on the women’s team. We met each other. He didn’t start coaching me at first. I had different coach, and last year and a half I was with him. That’s been good.”

Having personal coaching experience, Starodubtseva laughed about her increased standards for her team. 

“Harder,” Starodubtseva said on if picking a coach is easier or harder given her experience. “I feel like I’m a great coach. So I have high standards.

“It makes it harder, but I feel like I have a good team right now. And I have people that listen to me, and I listen to them, and it’s working.”