The Weekly Recap: Pro Tennis Around the Globe

What happened this week on the ATP and WTA Tour? Did our home-state Floridians win big? While we can't go over all of the action, here are a few key highlights to keep you updated...

Pegula Triumphs in Charleston

Jessica Pegula is well acquainted with the green clay of Charleston, South Carolina, having competed there numerous times throughout her career. In past years she's attained a high seed in the draw but lost in two consecutive semi-final appearances. Instead of perfecting an unfortunate trifecta, Pegula played some of the best tennis of her career to win her second title of the season, and in doing so she took out some of the sport's biggest names. 

Her first two matches weren't too tricky. The first, contested against Iryna Shymanovic, was won convincingly 6-0, 6-3. While she didn't serve her best, hitting only 55% of her first serves in, she outplayed Shymanovic in longer points and excelled when returning, having six opportunities to break Shymanovic and fulfilling ever one. In her next test against Ajla Tomljanovic, Pegula only lost two more games than in her first round, routing the Australian 6-3, 6-2. But when she stepped on court for her quarter-final against fellow American Danielle Collins, the momentum shifted enormously. 

Above: Jessica Pegula. Photo: Credit One Charleston Open.

Collins came out with a bang, winning the first set 6-1 and leaving Pegula speechless as they walked back to their benches before starting the second set. Collins, the defending Charleston champion, was clearly on a mission to retain the title and keep her ranking inside the top 30 which has plummeted since she also lost a title defense in Miami just weeks earlier. But Pegula wasn't going to give up there, and after making a few key adjustments; serving more consistently and cutting down her unforced errors, there was little that Collins could do to stop her. Almost as if the first set hadn't happened at all, Pegula ran away with the next two 6-3, 6-0. 

The semi-final was also difficult, and 9th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova also took a set off the American. While Pegula won the first set comfortably 6-2, she lost her momentum in the second and Alexandrova was able to take advantage of a couple of weak service games to win the second 6-2 as well. And the third was deadly close---tied at 5-5 in games, it really came down to who could keep their composure and outplay the other in the difficult moments. Pegula was able to do this, and took a key break of serve to win the final set 7-5. And for the first time, Jessica Pegula was in the Charleston final. 

Waiting for her on the other side of the net was another American, Sofia Kenin. Consistent as ever, Pegula snatched the first set 6-3. But perhaps similar to the semi-final, Pegula relaxed a bit and let Kenin take control of the match, climbing to a startling 5-1 in games. Fans in the stadium were gearing up for a third set, and so was Sofia Kenin as well. But Pegula had other things on her mind, and she played some of the most brilliant tennis she's ever played, not letting Kenin win another game and taking the final set 7-5. For the part-time Boca Raton resident, this will surely be a boost of confidence heading into the compact clay season.

Brooksby Completes Perfect Comeback Culminating in Houston Title

Things haven't been easy for Jenson Brooksby. With a controversial suspension leaving him sidelined until early 2025, he's had to work extremely hard to build back up to the high level we all saw him play at just a few years ago. He's only played six events since, and it's fair to say that the results haven't exactly been coming naturally. But this week in Houston, something clicked right into place for the American, and he took out two of the best Americans on the circuit en-route to the trophy. 

Above: Photo credit (via Wikipedia): si.robi - Brooksby RG21 (42) CC BY-SA 2.0

Starting off with Patrick Maloney and Taro Daniel as his first and second round tests, respectively, Brooksby utilized the familiar surface and concentrated on consistency, playing some longer rallies but winning points off of his opponent's errors---a perfect strategy that is suited well for the clay courts of Houston. With two straight sets victories under his belt, his round-of-16 challenge would be against someone very suited for the tournament---Chilean and clay-specialist Alejandro Tabilo. And Tabilo won the first set 6-3. And to get back into the match Brooksby had to fight extremely hard. Just scraping by in the second set, 6-4, Brooksby now had to endure some of the most excruciating tennis in the final set. While the crowd must have lived for the long rallies and consistency that both men were playing, it almost meant that they now found themselves in a final-tiebreak showdown. It really could have gone either way, and when they tied at 6-6 in the points during the tiebreak, both men had 106 points to their name. But Brooksby made that 108, and just edged by Tabilo to reach the quarter-finals. 

Perhaps a bit tired going into his fourth match of the tournament, Brooksby dropped the first set to Aleksander Kovacevic. But once warmed up, he was able to once again find his rhythm and fight back 6-3, 6-4. The semi-final however was similar to the fight against Tabilo, except this time Brooksby was in the hot seat. After winning the first set 7-6, 7-5 in tiebreaker points, Brooksby let Paul back into the match and the top seed was able to take the second 6-3. Just as before, both narrowed down their game to the maximum consistency and served beautifully, which equaled a formula for another final set tiebreak showdown. Same thing! Brooksby just scraped by, 8-6. Now with two near losses on his record, Jenson had to concentrate going into the final against Frances Tiafoe, the second seed. But perhaps all of this court time just improved his game, and he was able to easily handle his final challenge 6-4, 6-2, fully cementing his spot back on the ATP Tour. 

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Written by Will Turvey. Photo credit (top): Credit One Charleston Open.