Jessica Pegula will come up against a familiar face at the Charleston Open this year.
Pegula lost to Elena Rybakina again at the Miami Open last week, but she is now looking to make a quick transition to the clay court season.
The first clay court tournament she will play this year will be at the Charleston Open, where Pegula is the defending singles champion.
As well as attempting to defend her singles title, Pegula will also play in the doubles tournament, and she has been drawn to come up against her podcast co-host Jennifer Brady.
Jessica Pegula to face her ‘The Player’s Box Podcast’ co-host Jennifer Brady in Charleston
Pegula is the fifth best player on the WTA Tour right now, and she also has a podcast with three fellow American tennis players.
Madison Keys, Desirae Krawczyk and former Australian Open finalist Brady are Pegula’s three co-hosts, but she will actually play the latter in Charleston this year.
Pegula is playing doubles with fellow American Asia Muhammad in Charleston, and they will play the pairing of Brady and New Zealander Erin Routliffe.
This is not the first time that Pegula and Brady have faced each other in doubles on the WTA Tour, having split their two previous meetings, and they have also played alongside each other before.
Pegula and Brady are not the only interesting dynamic in this match, as Muhammad and Routliffe have also been doubles partners for every tournament so far this year.
Who is Jessica Pegula playing in the singles draw in Charleston?
While there will now be a lot of intrigue into Pegula’s first round doubles match in Charleston, her main focus will be defending her singles title.
As the top seed in Charleston, Pegula receives an automatic bye to the second round, where she will play either Yulia Putintseva or Lulu Sun.
The first seeded player Pegula could play in Charleston this year is Elisabetta Cocciaretto, who beat her in the first round of Wimbledon last year.
Some of the other potential threats to Pegula this year include Ekaterina Alexandrova, Belinda Bencic, another podcast co-host in Keys, and Iva Jovic.
If Pegula is able to defend the Charleston Open title then she will be the first woman to do so since Serena Williams in 2013.
She will also hope to win her first doubles title on clay, with Pegula and Muhammad playing Brady and Routliffe on Tuesday, March 31.
