Jessica Pegula needed one hour and 22 minutes to retain her Charleston Open title as she cruised to a straight-sets victory over Yulia Starodubtseva in Sunday's final. 

Pegula, who needed three sets in all four matches en route to the showpiece encounter, had no such trouble here as she stormed to a dominant 6-2 6-2 victory. 

The top seed set the tone for her victory in the first set, reeling off five consecutive games to take control of the tie, and the American did not let up in the second. 

Having broken Starodubtseva in the opening game, Pegula held her serve in sensational fashion, ending a brilliant rally with a backhand volley at the net to pull 2-0 in front. 

After stretching her lead to 5-0, Pegula squandered three match-point opportunities as Starodubtseva defended stoutly, with the Ukrainian finally converting her fifth break point.

But winning that mammoth game only delayed the inevitable for Starodubtseva, as Pegula sealed the win on serve to clinch her second title of 2026. 

Title DEFENDED @JPegula puts in a near-flawless performance, beating Starodubtseva 6-2, 6-2 to become the Champion in Charleston once again #CharlestonOpen pic.twitter.com/nfUYAg1evZ

— wta (@WTA) April 5, 2026

Data Debrief: Pegula goes back-to-back

Pegula described the nature of her run to the Charleston final as a "cat with nine lives", but there was no luck about her victory here, which she sealed in impressive fashion. 

Her victory also saw her win the tournament in consecutive years, becoming the first player to do so since Serena Williams in 2012 and 2013.

In addition, only Williams (three), Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova (both four) and Chris Evert (eight) have won more titles at this competition than Pegula.