Jessica Pegula defends Charleston title after crushing victory over Yuliia Starodubtseva

[p]Top seed [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/pegula-jessica/KdojxrAR/"]Pegula[/a], who had gone to three sets in every round on her way to Sunday's final, was in no mood to take the scenic route again as she sprinted to a [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/pegula-j-KdojxrAR/starodubtsewa-y-GlqMuuhi/?mid=fy4dX5Rb"]6-2, 6-2[/a] victory in 1hr 22min against her 89th-ranked opponent.[/p][p]The Charleston victory follows Pegula's win at Dubai in February and is the 11th title of the 32-year-old New Yorker's career.[/p][p]After an even start, Pegula seized control in the fifth game of the first set, grabbing the first break point of the match when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/starodubtsewa-yulia/GlqMuuhi/"]Starodubtseva[/a] pulled a forehand wide.[/p][embed guid="03cb7ac9-ae87-45b0-96d5-1178c3d1072a" url="https://x.com/WTA/status/2040873702191972477" social-type="twitter" /][p]The Ukrainian saved that point but was quickly in trouble again, giving Pegula another break point with a rushed return which the American converted for a 3-2 lead.[/p][p]After holding to go 4-2 up, Pegula then went a double-break ahead as more unforced errors from Starodubtseva proved costly.[/p][p]After comfortably serving out for the set, Pegula was soon on the offensive in the second, breaking Starodubtseva for a third time to 1-0 up.[/p][p]Starodubtseva finally began to exert some pressure in the next game and twice carved out break points.[/p][p]But Pegula slammed the door shut to hold for 2-0 and then rammed home the advantage by breaking again for a 3-0 lead.[/p][embed guid="3f7fe5eb-cee6-4d29-8a58-cb02337a3d9b" url="https://x.com/WTA/status/2040866443474935911" social-type="twitter" /][p]Another break left her 5-0 up and serving for the match. Starodubtseva finally showed some resilience to fight off three match points to grab her first break to make it 5-1.[/p][p]But Pegula made no mistake on her next service game, holding to love to wrap up victory.[/p]