WTA 500 Charleston: Pegula and Navarro Cruise, Bencic Crushed by Kenin

The schedule was packed on the courts of Charleston this Wednesday, featuring the debut of top seed Jessica Pegula.

The world No. 4, who barely had time to recover from her runner-up finish in Miami, faced Iryna Shymanovich (No. 215) in her opening match. In just 1 hour and 13 minutes, she delivered a dominant performance (6-0, 6-3) to advance to the round of 16, where she will take on Ajla Tomljanovic.

Emma Navarro, a semifinalist at the 2024 US Open, also controlled her first match on Charleston’s green clay. Against Hailey Baptiste, the world No. 11 saved 12 break points throughout the match, securing a straight-sets victory (6-4, 6-3) to set up a meeting with Ashlyn Krueger in the next round.

Among other results, Sofia Kenin handed a heavy defeat (6-0, 6-3) to Belinda Bencic, the 2022 champion and 2023 finalist. Diana Shnaider and Jelena Ostapenko also moved past the second round, defeating Polina Kudermetova (6-3, 6-2) and Louisa Chirico (7-5, 6-2) respectively.