Collins, Pegula, Navarro Lead QF Charge

PEGULA LOOKS TO STAY PERFECT AGAINST DEFENDING CHAMP

We’re getting, as they say, to the business end of the tournament here at the 2025 Credit One Charleston Open. The last eight will swing into quarterfinal action on Friday on Daniel Island, including top seed Jessica Pegula, defending champion Danielle Collins, and hometown girl Emma Navarro.

Friday Order of Play

Pegula vs. Collins is first up in Credit One Stadium (11 a.m.), a matchup of fellow 31-year-old Americans. While Pegula holds a spotless 5-0 advantage in career head-to-heads, she says she’s approaching the match as if they are meeting for the first time.

“I haven’t played her in a while, so I feel like it might be a little bit different playing her here, where she obviously plays some really good tennis: defending champion, has had good results here. I guess it’s good that my record is 5-0 but, again, that can switch at any moment. I’m just treating it as if it’s maybe the first time we’ve played. I’ll look back at a few of the old matches and see what it is that I’ve done well to win against her. But it’s been a while, so I feel like the record doesn’t really matter.”

Amanda Anisimova.

After escaping a three-set challenge from compatriot Ashlyn Krueger on Friday, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, Navarro knows she’ll have to ramp it up against her next opponent, another American, the hard-hitting eighth seed Amanda Anisimova.

“Amanda is really tough,” said Navarro, into her first quarterfinal of her backyard WTA 500 event. “Big serve, big groundstrokes. Kind of similar, I would say, to the way Ashlyn plays. The game plan is probably going to stay pretty similar: Just try to be really strong and aggressive on returns and maybe serve a little bit better. I think she’ll be really tough. I’m excited for the challenge.”

A three-set winner over Belgian Elise Mertens on the Althea Gibson Club Court, third seed Zheng Qinwen hopes to reverse an 0-2 trend against ninth seed Ekaterina Alexandrova when they meet in the quarterfinals. Their first encounter came at this same event in 2022, when Zheng retired trailing 5-2 in the third set due to injury.

Zheng Qinwen.