Defending champion beat Jovic 6-4, 5-7, 6-3
\n MIAMI
\nDefending champion Jessica Pegula advanced to the final of the WTA Charleston Open clay-court tournament on Saturday, defeating fourth seed Iva Jovic 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.
\nAmerican top seed Pegula, who has been taken to three sets in each of her four matches in Charleston this week, finally wrapped up victory in 2hr 35min when Jovic pulled a forehand return wide.
\nThe 32-year-old from New York will face Yuliia Starodubtseva in Sunday\u2019s final after the unseeded Ukrainian upset fifth seed Madison Keys in the other semi-final.
\nWorld number 89 Starodubtseva, who was initially scheduled to go through qualifying in Charleston before being granted a place in the main draw after a withdrawal, defeated Keys 6-1, 6-4.
\nWorld number five Pegula will be chasing her second title of the season on Sunday after her victory in Dubai in February.
\nThe American admitted after Saturday\u2019s latest three-setter that she has become used to taking the scenic route as she has advanced through the rounds in Charleston.
\n\u201cWhen I won the first set today I thought \u2018Oh man, I have such a great chance to not go to three\u2019. I was like \u2018Maybe I\u2019ll get it done in two today\u2019,\u201d Pegula told the Tennis Channel.
\n\u201cI\u2019d love some straight sets victories \u2014 that would be nice. But a win\u2019s a win. If I\u2019m gonna win every match for the rest of my life, but it\u2019s three sets, I\u2019ll take the three sets.\u201d
\nWhile Pegula will be targeting her second title of the year on Sunday, Starodubtseva will be aiming for the first of her career.
\nThe 26-year-old Ukrainian punished Keys\u2019s fragile service game to race through the first set in just 31 minutes, breaking the American four times to win 6-1, before clinching victory with another service break in the 10th game of the second set.
\n\u201cI did not expect to break her that many times today,\u201d Starodubtseva said. \u201cI feel like I did quite well at neutralizing her power and just hitting a heavy ball back.
\n\u201cI can\u2019t really described my feelings right now. I may not have expected this outcome in this tournament but hard work pays off.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Defending champion beat Jovic 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 MIAMI Defending champion Jessica Pegula advanced to the final of the WTA Charleston Open clay-court tournament on Saturday, defeating fourth seed Iva Jovic 6-4, 5-7, 6-3. American top seed Pegula, who has been taken to three sets in each of her four matches in Charleston this week, finally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540292,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-540266","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n