US tennis star Jessica Pegula defeated Sofia Kenin 6-3, 7-5 at the Charleston Open on Sunday, winning her first clay court title in the tournament’s first all-US final since 1990.
The victory marks Pegula’s second of the season, with the 2025 Miami Open finalist overtaking fellow US star Coco Gauff in the No. 3 spot in the newly updated WTA rankings — matching her career high.
“I was playing a lot of matches over the previous couple years, and I was just burnt out,” Pegula told reporters afterwards. “So I’m just really happy that this year I feel so much fresher, so much better, and I think the results are kind of showing this early in the year.”
Equal pay heads for Charleston Open
Charleston organizers also announced on Sunday that the Open will provide equal prize money to both the men’s and women’s pools starting with next year’s edition, becoming the first standalone WTA 500 event to level the financial playing field — and doubling the winner’s approximately $1,000,000 purse in the process.
The move follows a 2023 WTA announcement outlining a pathway to equal pay, with the goal of achieving purse equity…
