CHARLESTON, S.C./WASHINGTON, April 6, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)
When top-seeded Jessica Pegula secured match point to successfully defend her WTA 500 Credit One Charleston Open title with her straight-set victory over unheralded Yuliia Starodubtseva in the South Carolina Lowcountry Sunday afternoon, there was a sense of relief that permeated her face. Spending five consecutive afternoons toiling for a cumulative total of 11 hours and 22 minutes on the grainy green clay at Credit One Stadium will do that – even to champions, both past and present.
The World No. 5 from the United States, who is one of the most resilient players on the WTA Tour – and possesses one of the most laid back, easy-going personalities, too – cracked a smile as she looked to her box, where her coach Mark Knowles stood and applauded his pupil after she defeated the unseeded and 89th-ranked Starodubtseva, 6-2, 6-2, in one hour and 22 minutes to secure her second-straight Charleston Open title.
Pegula also clenched her left fist and held her racquet firmly with her right hand as she celebrated her 10th straight victory at LTP Daniel Island, a winning streak that began with the start of her 2025 title run.
Bravo, JPeg 👏@JPegula becomes the first player to defend her Charlestown crown since Serena Williams in 2013! pic.twitter.com/PU40PDyF1O
— Credit One Charleston Open (@CharlestonOpen) April 5, 2026
By the end of the afternoon, there was a sense of accomplishment for Pegula to go along with her sense of relief after saving her best performance for the title final, which included a streak of capturing 10 straight games that gave her a set and a break lead.
All the while, the top-seeded Pegula walked to the net and congratulated the surprising finalist Starodubtseva, her opponent from war-torn Ukraine, who had just finished playing – and losing – her very first WTA Tour final. Starodubtseva, a native of Kakhovka, a port city on the Dnieper River in southern Ukraine, will leave town a different person after collecting the biggest paycheck in her career. The Charleston title was Pegula’s second of the season to go along with the WTA 1000 crown she won in Dubai back in February.
Take a bow Yuliia Starodubtseva! 👏
Your 2026 Charleston Open runner-up 💪#CharlestonOpen pic.twitter.com/Qd2z0Pgfhg
— wta (@WTA) April 5, 2026
Soon after, during the trophy ceremony, Pegula showed her appreciation for the Charleston fans that supported her through her 2026 title journey.
“Thank you to the fans who’ve supported me throughout this whole week,” she said. “There were many three-set matches. It’s been such a long week for me, and you guys brought me through so many matches every single day. So, thank you so much. I love playing here.”
While Pegula dominated most of the statistical metrics in her first meeting with Starodubtseva, she was made to earn the title. Pegula won 76 percent (26 of 34) of her first-serve points, compared to just 42 percent (13 of 31) by Starodubtseva. She saved five of six break points and wasn’t broken until the sixth game of the second set, which prevented her garnering the title after finishing with a bagel set against her opponent. Up 5-0, Pegula gained her first championship point but by the end of the marathon 18-point game that stretched across 12 minutes, in which Starodubtseva saved a total of three championship points, the Ukrainian finally broke on her fourth opportunity.
Back-to-back 🤩@JPegula lifts the Charleston Open trophy for the second year in a row 👏#CharlestonOpen pic.twitter.com/ICGonYV1x4
— wta (@WTA) April 5, 2026
By the end of the final, Pegula broke Starodubtseva’s serve five times in six tries – twice in the opening set and three more times in the second set. Pegula outpointed her opponent 65-40, closing out the victory with a love hold. By winning, Pegula will take home a whopping $354,345, part of the tournament record prize money of $2.5 million – which matches the prize money that an ATP 500 offers. Meanwhile, Starodubtseva collected $218,225, which exceeds her previous 2026 earnings to date.
En route, Pegula improved to 24-4 – most wins on the WTA Tour this season. She defeated Yulia Putintseva, Elisabetta Cocciaretto, No. 7 seed Diana Shnaider in the quarterfinals, No. 4 seed Iva Jovic in the semifinals – all three-set wins – and Starodubtseva in the final. The triumph leveled her win-loss record in title finals at 11-11. As for Starodubtseva, her dream week included back-to-back wins over Americans McCartney Kessler in the quarterfinals and 2019 champion Madison Keys in the semifinals.
“I’m proud of myself for, as I said in previous interviews, happy to maintain my level and happy with my level this week in particular, and maybe the week before in Miami,” Starodubtseva said during her post-match news conference.
“I feel like I’ve grown. I brought up my floor, and I just hope to build from here.”
Congratulations to Yuliia Starodubtseva on a wonderful run to her first final 👏 pic.twitter.com/cn7QsLs67J
— Credit One Charleston Open (@CharlestonOpen) April 5, 2026
While there will be better days ahead on the tennis court for the 26-year-old Starodubtseva, a former collegiate player at Old Dominion University in the United States, her ranking will rise to a career-high No. 53 as of Monday. As for Pegula, she is merely hitting her prime. With this win, the 32-year-old Buffalo, N.Y.-native has now won 11 career WTA Tour titles, including four at WTA 500-level. Pegula is also the first champion to defend her title in Charleston since Serena Williams in 2013.
“Yeah, incredible feeling [winning] back to back,” Pegula said during her champion’s news conference. “I wasn’t really thinking too far ahead as if I could do it, but yeah, now that I’m here, I’m very happy. It was a lot of hard work.
“It was definitely the best level I think I showed today. I’m happy that I was able to do that in a final. … I was really happy with the way I was able to just win the last game pretty convincingly just after all the matches I have been through.
“Yeah, it was definitely kind of a huge relief and just nice knowing that I can go home and relax for a couple of weeks before I have to start up again.
“It’s just nice when you can kind of end on a good note. You know you’re not rushing to another tournament. You get to go home. Yeah, there’s no better feeling really.”
A fabulous week in Charleston 🔅 pic.twitter.com/LFpVjwzBHj
— Credit One Charleston Open (@CharlestonOpen) April 5, 2026
Krawczyk, McNally win Charleston doubles title
Americans Desirae Krawczyk and Caty McNally are no strangers to winning doubles titles. In fact, each has won one before in Charleston. Krawczyk paired with Danielle Collins to win in 2023, while McNally won the 2021 title with Hailey Baptiste.
On Sunday, Krawczyk, 32, and McNally, 24, a last-minute pairing for this year’s event, won their first title together after defeating Anna Bondar of Hungary and Magdalena Frech of Poland, 6-3, 6-2, in 71 minutes. The winners combined to outpoint their opponents 57-40, taking advantage of four breaks of serve.
Championship frames 📸#CharlestonOpen pic.twitter.com/p6tIxA1shj
— Credit One Charleston Open (@CharlestonOpen) April 5, 2026
“It’s been a great week. We grew a lot each match. We learned each other’s game styles and figured out what worked well together,” McNally said during her team’s news conference. “Each match, we just got so much better and were able to assert ourselves and, honestly, just have a lot of fun. I think that was the most important thing: We just really enjoyed playing together.”
“My original partner ended up pulling out, so I needed to re-pair. I was kind of scrambling to find anyone,” said Krawczyk, who finished runner-up in Charleston last year with Caroline Dolehide. “I texted Caty … and here we are.”
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McNally will have little time to savor the Charleston Open victory as she’s off to Belgium to play doubles for the Team USA in the upcoming Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers.
By the numbers
Jessica Pegula has won 10 straight Charleston Open matches since beginning her first title run in 2025. En route to this year’s title, she spent over 11 hours on court and her first four matches went three sets. The title final was her only two-set match.
The sun shines on @JPegula ☀️ pic.twitter.com/rdPq3d0RGZ
— Credit One Charleston Open (@CharlestonOpen) April 5, 2026
“Quotable …”
“Honestly, there is a running joke about me that I perform best when there is a lot of money at stake. Like [WTA] 1000s, I play good. Then, I go to [WTA] 125s and I don’t play good. But I haven’t checked any of the prize money on purpose. Just I never do. I don’t think about it when I play. At least, this is not my biggest motivator, but obviously it’s nice and definitely will help me in a way to feel free.”
– Yuliia Starodubtseva of Ukraine, during her post-match news conference, on her financially-changing week, after finishing runner-up at the Charleston Open and earning prize money of $218,225, which exceeds her previous 2026 earnings.
