BY JAMES BECK
CHARLESTON, S.C. – – Jessica Pegula is one tough cookie on a tennis court, especially when it’s the green clay courts of Charleston.
If you were or had been in the stands at Credit One Stadium Wednesday afternoon in the second round of the $2,300 Credit One Charleston Open, you would have noticed that “Pegula trait” while watching the last two sets of a three-hour marathon. Pegula had a really tough time keeping pace with Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstani in the first set.
PEGULA SURPRISED BY YULIA’S PLAY
It didn’t matter that Putintseva is ranked No. 72 and is a 5-4, 31-year-old who also gave it her all until Pegula slammed that last forehand for a winner to wrap up Pegula’s 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory before a crowd that always seemed to be pulling for Pegula.
After all that the fans had seen this day, they might not have expected Pegula to come up with a double break point and then three more break points to take a 6-5 lead in the final set. That set up a rush through her serve for an ace for triple match point before then double faulting before closing out the match.
Long rallies, sometimes hard and other times with drop shots were the order for both players. Both appeared to be capable of winning the entire tournament as Pegula did a year ago. Long rallies were the order of the day, as it often is on clay courts.
LEAVING BASELINE TO HIT WINNERS
The shot-making often was amazing. Pegula’s most beneficial shots in the last two sets were her charges to the middle of her court to cut off Putintseva’s shots and deliver winners.
Pegula seemed to be surprised by the shot-making ability of Putintseva early in the match, maybe because she had never lost a match to Putintseva and had “never played her on clay before.”
“I knew it was going to be really tough against Yulia,” Pegula said. “I think she’s somewhat of a clay courter, especially with the way she was playing today. I didn’t feel like she missed many balls (and) was not giving me any free points. I had to win every single point.”
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James Beck (843-795-3584, h)
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James Beck was the 2003 winner of the USTA National Media Award for print media. A 1995 MBA graduate of The Citadel, he can be reached at Jamesbecktennis@gmail.com.
