Jessica Pegula fights through fatigue to win Charleston title against Sofia Kenin

About an hour into Sunday's final at the Credit One Charleston Open, Jessica Pegula hit the wall.

After winning the first set against Sofia Kenin, the top seed quickly found herself staring at a 5-1 deficit, and potentially, a third consecutive three-set match if she wanted to win her first-ever clay-court title at tour level.

Until she didn't, and wasn't. The world No. 4 swatted away three set points on serve in the seventh game of the second set to kick off a run of six straight games that captured her a second title in her last four tournaments, 6-3, 7-5.

"I just realized how tired I was," Pegula told Tennis Channel post-match. "She started to play a high level, there were a couple of games I didn't get out of, didn't break, didn't hold. It was super windy, super tough conditions. If you lost focus for a split second or stopped moving your feet for a second, it just swings so fast. It was the same way for both of us."

"In the second set, I just wanted to hold, I just wanted to tell myseld to get momentum for the third, because coming into a third like that never feels good," she continued. "I knew I could break her, too. I honestly didn't think I was going to break her twice, but luckily, I could play some good tennis."

A swing of games Pegula's way also decided the first set. Pegula won four in a row from 3-2 down, after Kenin, also contesting her second career clay-court final after losing the championship to Iga Swiatek at Roland Garros four years ago, won three straight games from 2-0 behind.

The American, who will supplant Coco Gauff at U.S. No. 1 on Monday at a career-high world No. 3, has now won 17 of her last 19 matches, as she also defeated defending champion Danielle Collins from a set and a break down, and snapped a two-match losing streak to Ekaterina Alexandrova in a three-set semifinal.

With five wins in Charleston, she now has 25 on the season, which pushed her ahead of Aryna Sabalenka for most match wins of the WTA tour.

"I think my perseverance won me a lot of matches this week," Pegula said. "I think, especially on the clay, I feel like you have to have kind of that grittiness and that toughness, because the serve isn’t as effective. There’s not as many free points, and I think winning a couple of tough points or a tough game can kind of turn the momentum of a set or a match, and I felt like I was able to do that multiple times this week.

"It doesn’t always happen every single week, but when you’re able to do it and take home the title, I think you look back in those moments. Pivotal moments are really important in the match. So happy with what I was able to do this week and turning around matches and sets."