Bencic fights off Pegula to reach Charleston final

Swiss Belinda Bencic, the No 4 seed, reached the final of the Charleston Open by winning against American Jessica Pegula, the top seed, 7-5, 7-6 (5) at the Family Circle Tennis Center on Sunday evening.

Bencic, ranked No 11, will play Tunisian Ons Jabeur, the second seed, next. The pair met in the final at Charleston last year, with Bencic coming away with the 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 triumph.

The Swiss has won ten matches on the trot at Charleston heading into Sunday’s final with Jabeur.

The defending champion had her momentum stopped on Saturday night as her battle with Pegula was suspended due to rain with Pegula leading 4-2 in the second set tiebreak. But she returned to play early on Sunday and won five of six points to finish off the top seed.

In the previous rounds of the Charleston tournament, the Swiss beat Canadian qualifier Katherine Sebov (6-0, 6-3), American Shelby Rogers (4-6, 7-5, 6-2) and Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova, the No 7 seed (6-3, 6-3).

Pegula, ranked No 3, defeated Russian Anna Blinkova (6-2, 6-0), Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu, the No 15 seed (7-5, 4-6, 6-4) and Spaniard Paula Badosa, the No 12 seed (6-3, 7-6 (6)) earlier in the tournament.

Charleston WTA 500, other semi-final result (Family Circle Tennis Center, clay, USD 780.637):

• Ons Jabeur beat Daria Kasatkina (3): 7-5, 7-5