Top-seeded Jessica Pegula faced a tough challenge in her Charleston Open quarterfinal match. She lost the first set and was down in the second against Danielle Collins, the defending champion. However, Pegula fought back to win 1-6, 6-3, 6-0. She won the last nine games in a row, securing victory in 1 hour and 44 minutes.
This win keeps Pegula`s perfect record against Collins. They have now played six times in their careers, and Pegula has won every match. Their first match was in 2012 when they were both young players. In all their matches, Collins has only managed to win two sets out of a possible fourteen.
For Pegula, this is her fourth semifinal in 2025 and her third consecutive semifinal in Charleston. In the past two Charleston events, she lost in the semifinals. This year, she will try to reach her first Charleston final. Her opponent will be either Zheng Qinwen, the No. 3 seed, or Ekaterina Alexandrova, the No. 9 seed.
Key Moment: Collins started the match very strongly, playing what she called a `bonus` season after considering retirement in 2024. She dominated the first set in just 27 minutes, hitting many winners. She continued her strong play into the second set, leading 2-0.
The fourth game of the second set was crucial. Collins had chances to go up 3-1 but couldn`t convert. Pegula took advantage, breaking Collins` serve and changing the momentum of the match.
After that game, Collins started making more errors. Pegula then won 12 of the next 13 games, including nine in a row. Collins made only 9 unforced errors in the first set but then made 46 errors in the following two sets, including seven double faults.
Pegula`s thoughts: “Collins began playing very aggressively, and I wasn`t ready for it,” Pegula said after the match. “Luckily, I managed to get back into the second set and play better.”
“I felt relieved when she started missing some shots, giving me an opportunity! I tried to change my game, using slices and drop shots. Her backhand is very strong, so I tried to avoid hitting to it as much. I also focused on smarter serving because she was returning my serves incredibly well.”
