Charleston Open semifinals deliver interesting matchups and could pave the way for a potential all-American final

The Charleston Open has provided plenty of quality tennis on the green clay. Saturday is the singles semifinal day. The four remaining players, Jessica Pegula, Daria Kastakina, Maria Sakkari, and Danielle Collins will take the court vying for spots in Sunday's final.

At 1:00 PM EDT, Jessica Pegula will face off against Daria Kasatkina. The two players were set to meet in Adelaide in January, but Pegula pulled out of the tournament and subsequently skipped the February Middle Eastern swing while dealing with an injury. That walkover is the only win Kasatkina has ever gotten over Pegula. Their other two matches were straight set affairs on the Tokyo hardcourts in 2023 and the Rome clay in 2021.

Pegula is playing with house money. She could have and should have been out of this tournament in the quarterfinals. Victoria Azarenka had ample opportunities and several match points. That was the best match thus far decided by a third set tiebreaker that Pegula came from behind to win 9-7. Pegula has not played much tennis yet this year, and her 9-5 2024 record demonstrates that. Kasatkina, the 2017 Charleston Open champion, is 12-8 this year.

Can Maria Sakkari stop the red-hot Danielle Collins?

The second semifinal match features Miami Open champion Danielle Collins against the reinvigorated Maria Sakkari. Sakkari's coaching change, from Tom Hill to Pegula's former coach David Witt has given her more confidence and better results in 2024. Sakkari is 12-6 in 2024 and has the unenviable task of trying to beat Danielle Collins. She has a 2-1 head-to-head record over Collins. All of the matches were on hardcourt, the most recent one was Colllins' first career win over Sakkari in August 2023 in Montreal.

Collins is riding an 11-match winning streak, is 20-7 in 2024, and has only surrendered one set to Ons Jabeur in the Round of 32 at Charleston during the past two weeks of match play. Announcing her imminent retirement has increased her intensity and level. On Monday when the new rankings come out, she will re-enter the Top 20 and overtake Emma Navarro and Madison Keys becoming the third highest-ranked American behind Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula.

Should Collins win the Charleston Open, she would join Serena Williams who accomplished back-to-back Miami and Charleston Open wins twice in her career in 2008 and 2013.

Read more on Lob and Smash