Returning a year later, Pegula has a chance to double her clay title tally and move level with her countrywoman Coco Gauff for one key statistic.

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Is Coco Gauff the third-best player on the WTA Tour? 🤔

If not, who is?

Jessica Pegula can tie Coco Gauff for WTA titles if she wins the Charleston Open

Pegula currently sits 10th in the list of active WTA title winners.

One place and one title behind Gauff.

Active players with the most WTA titles

• 1. Venus Williams – 49
• 2. Iga Swiatek – 25
• 3. Aryna Sabalenka – 24
• 4. Victoria Azarenka – 21
• 5. Elina Svitolina – 19
• 6. Karolina Pliskova – 17
• T-7. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova – 12
• T-7. Elena Rybakina – 12
• 9. Coco Gauff – 11
• T-10. Jessica Pegula – 10
• T-10. Madison Keys – 10
• T-10. Elise Mertens – 10
• T-10. Belinda Bencic – 10

Jessica Pegula’s 10 WTA titles

Coco Gauff’s 11 WTA titles

A win in Charleston would move Pegula level with Gauff on 11 titles.

But who will she have to beat to make that dream a reality?

Jessica Pegula’s route to the Charleston Open title

Receiving a bye into the second round, Pegula will play Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva.

The always-entertaining Putintseva defeated New Zealand’s Lulu Sun in straight sets to reach the second round, but hasn’t won back-to-back matches since the Australian Open.

Pegula has won all three of her previous meetings with Putintseva and has yet to drop a set against the world number 72.

If she were to extend that winning streak to 4-0, she’d meet either Elisabetta Cocciaretto or the lucky loser, Yue Yuan, in the third round.

Cocciaretto stole the spotlight at the Qatar Open recently, knocking out Gauff en route to the quarter-finals.

She also holds a win over Pegula, producing one of the upsets of the Grand Slam season when she beat the American in the first round of Wimbledon last year.

Pegula would likely prefer to face Yuan, against whom she won the Korea Open title three years ago.

Then, in the quarter-finals, Pegula could play Leylah Fernandez, Polina Kudermetova, or Diana Shnaider.

She has a combined 5-1 head-to-head record against the trio and would enter all three potential matches as the favourite.

Looking ahead to the last four, Pegula could face several players in good form.

How do you rate Jessica Pegula’s chances of ever winning a Grand Slam?

The most notable of which is the fourth seed, Iva Jovic.

Still just 18, Jovic has already established herself as an elite player in the women’s game, and will be looking to notch her second top-10 win of the year if she does meet Pegula in the semis.

Pegula did, however, win their sole previous meeting, at this year’s Dubai Tennis Championships.

The 32-year-old won’t want to get ahead of herself, but there are some mouth-watering match-ups to look forward to if she were to reach the final.

Top-20 players Jessica Pegula could play in the Charleston Open final

• Ekaterina Alexandrova
• Belinda Bencic
• Madison Keys

A ‘Player’s Box Podcast’ clash with co-host Madison Keys would be a fitting end to the WTA Tour’s first North American stint of the 2026 season.

As would matches against Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic or Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova.

Only time will tell if Pegula will defend her title in Charleston, but you certainly won’t want to miss any of the action.

Pegula will begin her title defence against Putintseva in the second round on Wednesday, April 1.