Defending champ Pegula survives three-hour opener against Putinsteva in Charleston

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/pegula-jessica/KdojxrAR/"]Pegula[/a], the world number five from the United States, had clawed back a set but was broken to trail 0-2 in the third before mounting a final fightback.[/p][p][b]"All I just kept thinking was, like, welcome to the clay court season," [/b]Pegula said after [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/pegula-j-KdojxrAR/putintseva-y-W2BCKjLQ/?mid=pnYJNp8c"]grinding out the win[/a] on Charleston's green clay.[/p][embed guid="7dd554f6-9a65-4733-a7d7-37381e4c65a3" url="https://x.com/WTA/status/2039438364139475068" social-type="twitter" /][p]Pegula, who enjoyed a first-round bye, said the breezy conditions and challenging shadows made it hard to respond aggressively to the high, looping shots from 72nd-ranked [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/putintseva-yulia/W2BCKjLQ/"]Putintseva[/a] of Kazakhstan.[/p][p][b]"She's a really tricky opponent in general," [/b]Pegula said.[/p][p][b]"I feel like especially on clay she can be really crafty, use high balls, low balls, slices, drop shots, and I felt like she was just honestly toying with me there for quite a while,"[/b] added the American, who was broken as she served for the match at 5-4 but broke back to give herself another opportunity to close it out.[/p][p]Pegula is chasing her second title of the year, after a victory in Dubai in February.[/p][p]Second-seeded [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/alexandrova-ekaterina/dzbgeEFF/"]Ekaterina Alexandrova[/a] withdrew from the tournament before her second-round opener on Wednesday, saying she had "a bit of an injury" picked up in Miami.[/p][p]The 13th-ranked Russian was replaced in the draw by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gorgodze-ekaterine/vPEmPARA/"]Ekaterine Gorgodze[/a] of Georgia.[/p]