Jessica Pegula explains what surprised her about Charleston title defence
Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images Jessica Pegula clinched the title in Charleston, defeating Yuliia Starodubtseva in straight sets to cap off a demanding week. It was a straightforward finish to what had otherwise been a challenging week for the 32-year-old, who had been pushed to three sets in each of her matches leading up to the final. Afterwards, Pegula spoke candidly on Tennis Channel about the mental and physical challenges she faced throughout the week.
She reflected on what it took to reclaim her crown in Charleston and defend her title. Jessica Pegula shares her thoughts after back-to-back titles in Charleston Photo by Robert Prange/Getty Images Asked about how it felt to go back-to-back in Charleston, Pegula said: “Yeah, I don’t know. It’s crazy.
” “It was definitely a tough path last year and this year, and I think sometimes when you win a tournament, you kind of like romanticise, like, oh, it was so easy, and it’s usually not. Like there are usually some days where it’s really hard. “And so I think I shifted my mindset a little bit coming back defending.
I was like listen last year was a really tough year. It wasn’t like everything went perfect. So I think that actually kind of helped me get through a lot of really tough matches this week.
” Smiling when asked about the length of her matches this week at the event she replied: “I just like to make things hard for myself,” Pegula said with a laugh. Pegula added: “Like, I really do think I’d rather have it this way going into clay season for sure because you’re gonna have matches like this. Like it’s impossible not to especially on clay.