Yulia Putitseva didn't care that she had never won a set off Jessica Pegula, a staple in the top 10 on the WTA tour for years, and a constant to take titles no matter the tournament. What the Kazakh knew was that her best surface is on clay, and that gave her a real chance in the second round of the Charleston Open.
Further proof, if she needed any, was that she stunned the American with multiple breaks in the first set to take the lead. One might think that forcing Pegula into an uncomfortable position and having to adjust her approach might give Putintseva all the confidence she needed to pull the upset.
The second set was tight, too, though the 31-year-old Kazakh appeared to let her emotions get the better of her at times. She complained about the officiating and got mad at herself for barely missing would-be winners. She refused to suffer a complete meltdown, though.
Jessica Pegula defeats Yulia Putintseva at the 2026 Charleston Open
While Pegula, the top seed in Charleston who won the event in 2025, took set two by the same score, Putintseva won the first (6-4). Putintseva got an early break in the third set.
The American broke back, and then again, and took what appeared to be a commanding lead, at least as much as one could have in a match such as this with its ebbs and flows and breaks of surface, 5-3 before the Kazakh got another hold. All Pegula needed to do was hold herself, and her service games had become a lot more confident as the match grew older.
She couldn't, however. Putintseva got the break to stay in the match at 5-all. The Kazakh wasn't playing perfectly and was extremely inconsistent, but when she was playing well, she was playing at a higher level than Pegula was.
The best part of Pegula's game has always been her mental toughness, though. Even after falling behind 15-40 while trying to serve out the match, she rallied to get back to even. Faced a break-point again, and then evened the game. Then, she was broken, but only to break Putintseva right back.
With another chance to serve out the match, Pegula was able to do it 7-5, and with relative ease. One doesn't just beat the American over most of the match, but has to for the entire match. Yulia Putintseva couldn't do it.
Jessica Pegula will next face Elisabetta Cocciaretto in the third round. The Italian is the 14th-seed, but the difference between her high-end ability and Pegula's is fairly vast. The American is a metronome of very good-ness, and rarely suffers long-term dips in form.