{"id":510169,"date":"2026-04-03T04:31:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T04:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/510169\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T04:31:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T04:31:11","slug":"charleston-open-day-four-round-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/510169\/","title":{"rendered":"Charleston Open Day Four Round-up"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was not a simple task for the number one seed Jessica Pegula, who did not do it the easy way, but she still
\nproved to be too good against Elisabetta Cocciaretto in what could have been a
\nhuge upset in the Charleston Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The reigning champion would go on to win
\n1-6, 6-1, 7-6(1) but that first set obviously could have been the start of something
\nvery special for the Italian. She blitzed past her opponent in the opening
\nstages, taking just 32 minutes to sail into a delightful advantage.<\/p>\n

That 6-1 scoreline was matched by the world number five<\/a> who
\nwas desperately trying to find a pathway back into this match. She was in a
\nperilous position again when her opponent found a timely break. She left it late
\nto abolish that advantage, going 4-1 down before eventually getting a streak of
\ngames under her belt to get level. It would end up at a tiebreak in which had a
\nlot riding on it.<\/p>\n

The last time Pegula had failed to reach the quarterfinal
\nstage of a WTA tournament was at the 2025 Cincinnati Open back in August. She
\nwas not letting that record relinquish without a fight and battered her
\nopponent at a critical time, offering her no chance for a comeback as she
\nsneaked through what was another tight match in Charleston.<\/p>\n

\"jessica-pegula-miami-open-win-2026\"\/<\/p>\n

Jessica Pegula’s quest to win the Charleston Open for a second year running is still on<\/p>\n

Bencic overcomes tricky testBelinda Bencic def. Sara Bejlek 7-6(4), 6-2<\/p>\n

Belinda Bencic fought her way back into a match that she
\nlooked to be in trouble of at one point. In the end, she proved to be too
\nstrong for Sara Bejlek.<\/p>\n

It would be the Czech who raced out ahead with a clinical
\nthree-game burst that put the world number 12 on the back foot. However, Bencic
\nwas able to respond and get level at 3-3. Bejlek threatened to repeat the fate
\nas she broke to go 5-3 ahead and would attempt to serve the first set out.
\nBencic broke back in the nick of time and forced a tiebreak. The 2022 champion
\ntook a slender lead and kept a hold of it for the entirety of the tiebreak to put
\nherself in front.<\/p>\n

Bencic has enjoyed prior success on the grey clay of
\nCharleston, reaching a brace of finals. A third final came slightly closer as
\nshe won five games on the spin in an emphatic response to being broken in the first
\ngame of the second set. Bejlek prevented Bencic from serving it out the first
\ntime but she could do nothing on her own serve which was blitzed in that second
\nset. Bencic sealed her spot in the last-eight, now a couple of wins away from
\nclimbing back into the top 10.<\/p>\n

\"Bencic<\/p>\n

Belinda Bencic won the Charleston Open in 2022<\/p>\n

Keys unlocks pathway into last-eightMadison Keys def. Anna Bondar 6-2, 7-5<\/p>\n

Madison Keys has a lot of positive history at this
\ntournament. She reached the final in 2015 before getting over the line in 2019.
\nShe will be hoping to get back to her best in Charleston, and has taken a step
\ncloser to that dream with a decent win over Anna Bondar.<\/p>\n

Four of the first five games went against the serve as Keys
\ntook the advantage in terms of the score. From 4-1, she saw it out with both players
\nstarting to settle on their serve. The second set was a lot tighter. It seemed
\nthat Bodar had responded brilliantly with a break to move 3-1 in front but Keys
\nquickly got back on level terms, halting the progress of the Hungarian. It
\nstayed on serve with a tiebreak looking imminent. However, the former
\nAustralian Open champion broke the serve at a crucial time. She served the match
\nout from 6-5 and sets up a mouthwatering clash against Bencic in the
\nquarterfinal.<\/p>\n

Shnaider routes FernandezDiana Shnaider def. Leylah Fernandez 6-3, 6-0<\/p>\n

It began as a close tie, but in the end it was a routing in
\nthe favour of Diana Shnaider who thrashed Leylah Fernandez with a string of
\ngames which went right to the end of the match.<\/p>\n

This could have been different if the Canadian took one of
\nher early opportunities. In the first two games, eight break points were on
\noffer and all of them were wasted. Fernandez had six chances but was unable to
\ncapitalise. Four routine holds followed before Shnaider went berserk.<\/p>\n

She broke the serve on the way to winning the first set 6-3
\nbefore the Russian continued to barrage her rival with a flurry of brilliant
\ntennis. She made it nine games on the spin to easily bypass an out of sorts
\nFernandez to earn back-to-back wins for the first time since the Australian
\nOpen.<\/p>\n

\"ShnaiderGazprom2\"\/<\/p>\n

Diana Shnaider in action<\/p>\n

Kessler takes down fellow American in dramatic endingMcCartney Kessler def. Peyton Stearns 6-0, 3-6, 6-4<\/p>\n

It looked at first that McCartney Kessler was going to
\nbreeze past her fellow American. Despite winning nine of the first 10 games,
\nshe managed narrowly to get over the line against Peyton Stearns who threatened
\nan unlikely comeback.<\/p>\n

Just 23 minutes it took for Kessler to bagel Stearns. She
\nwould then break in the second enroute to a 3-1 lead. Everything was looking
\nrosy, but then Stearns upped her level. She won five games in a row and from
\nnowhere forced a third and deciding set.<\/p>\n

Kessler failed to take an early break point but it would
\nseem that it would not matter. After seven consecutive holds, she broke at a pivotal
\ntime and now had the chance to serve it out. Stearns had other ideas and broke
\nback straight away. Kessler still had another chance to see it out but just on
\nher opponent’s serve. What followed was a dramatic game which seven deuces and
\neight match points. Finally, Kessler sealed the deal and was able to put herself
\ninto the quarterfinal despite not the most convincing of endings.<\/p>\n

Walk in the park for Starodubtseva\u00a0Yulia Starodubtseva def. Renata Zaraz\u00faa. 6-1, 6-0<\/p>\n

The quickest match of the day came from a rampant Yulia
\nStarodubtseva who had no issue in taking down Renata Zaraz\u00faa.<\/p>\n

After the pair kicked off the match with holds of serve, Zarazua
\nwould not get another game on the board. It was an incredible and seemingly unending
\nburst from the Ukrainian who ended up winning 11 games in a row to blast past
\nher hapless opponent and seal her spot in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was not a simple task for the number one seed Jessica Pegula, who did not do it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":510170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[175083,7598,101,118,56,54,55,6546],"class_list":{"0":"post-510169","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-charleston-open","9":"tag-live-blog","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom","15":"tag-wta"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}