Charleston Open: Seeding holds until last four for first time in 23 years

Seeding has held all the way to the last four at the Charleston Open for the first time since 2000 after Jessica Pegula, Ons Jabeur, Daria Kasatkina, and Belinda Bencic reached the semi-finals.

Back in 2000, it was Mary Pierce, Conchita Martinez, Monica Seles, and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario who made up the last four.

World No 3 and top seed Pegula reached her fourth semifinal of the year thanks to a hard-fought 6-3, 7-6(6) win over former No 2 Paula Badosa. The Charleston Open offers Pegula a great chance to claim her first title on clay but will have to win two more tough matches to get it done.

Pegula was happy to clinch her win before a bit of inclement weather blew into Charleston.

“She made me earn it in the end,” Pegula said. “The conditions started getting really tricky. I know there’s some rain coming, so I’m glad I was able to get through that, especially in straight sets.”

Defending Charleston Open champion Bencic secured her return to the semi-finals with a straightforward 6-3, 6-3 win over Ekaterina Alexandrova that set up a clash with Pegula.

“Belinda is really tough, Pegula said. “She’s a really tough matchup for me. I haven’t played her in a while. I think I’ve improved a lot since the last time I played her. But we play kind of similar, hit kind of low flat, take it early. And she tends to kind of feed off my pace and like how I play.”

Jabeur advanced to the Charleston Open semifinals for the third straight year after Anna Kalinskaya retired with the Tunisian already on the brink of victory at 6-0, 4-1 up.

Charleston will be the second semifinal of the season for Jabuer, and her first since she reached the last four of the Adelaide International 1 back in January.

“I wish Anna a speedy recovery,” Jabeur said after the match. “I think it was a great match for me. I think I did everything how it’s supposed to be and listened to my coach, 100 percent, for the first time in my career.”

Jabeur is set to face Kasatkina, who beat ninth seed Madison Keys 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-2 in a match between two of the tournament’s former champions.

Kasatkina earned just her second win in ten meetings with Keys from a set and a break down. She rattled of wins in 12 of the last 14 games to surge into the last four.

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