No.2 seed Ons Jabeur advanced to her second consecutive Credit One Charleston Open final after defeating No.3 seed Daria Kasatkina 7-5, 7-5 in Saturday's semifinal. A runner-up in 2022, the Tunisian will face defending champion Belinda Bencic for the title on Sunday. 

The semifinal between Pegula and Bencic was suspended for rain on Saturday with the Swiss leading 7-5, 6-6 but the American up 4-2 in the tiebreak. The match resumed on Sunday and Bencic proceeded to win five of the next six points to seal a 7-5, 7-6(5) victory.

Bencic is bidding to become the first player to successfully defend the title in Charleston since Serena Williams in 2012 and 2013. 

In a rain-addled match that saw a lengthy interruption due to the weather, Jabeur rallied from a double-break down in the first set and a break down in the second set to seal her first Top 10 win of the season. Jabeur has now won the last five meetings against Kasatkina, extending her lead in their head-to-head to 5-2. 

With her victory on Saturday, Jabeur tied World No.1 Iga Swiatek's mark for the most wins on clay since the start of the 2020 season, with each tallying 37 over that span. After being sidelined in February due to surgery, Charleston will be the World No.5's first final of the season. She is bidding to win her first title since last summer on the grass courts of Berlin. 

Charleston: Jabeur edges Kasatkina, advances to first final of 2023

Match notes: Kasatkina jumped out to a 4-1 lead with the double-break in the first set, as Jabeur struggled to find her first serve through the early stages of the match. Serving for the opening set at 5-2, Kasatkina was swiftly broken at 15. 

With Jabeur serving down 5-3, rain suspended play for over three hours. On the resumption, Jabeur came out firing. She saved two set points to hold to 5-4 and then proceeded to win 12 of the next 15 points to seal the set. Jabeur finished the first set with 31 winners to 15 unforced errors. Kasatkina hit five winners and five unforced errors. 

"I have to thank the rain," Jabeur said on court. "It allowed me to talk to my coach a bit and he gave me some advice and reflect on what happened in the first set. My game was there, I just needed to find something small. I was more patient definitely after, I was building my point more and that really helped me."

Kasatkina broke to open the second set but again struggled to hold her lead. Jabeur broke back to level the set at 2-2 and broke again in the longest game of the match - a six-deuce game - to lead 5-3. Kasatkina broke to extend the match but, serving down 6-5, 15-all, the World No.8 hit her third double-fault of the match to move Jabeur within two points of the match.

The Tunisian took her chance, closing out the win with her seventh break of the match.

Stat of the match: Jabeur has now won 10 of her last 12 semifinals on the Hologic WTA Tour. 

Up next: Bencic and Jabeur have split their four prior meetings. Last year in Charleston, Bencic held off Jabeur in a dramatic final, winning 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 to win her first clay-court title.

Already a champion twice this season, Bencic is aiming to win her third title of 2023 and set her personal best for the number of titles won in a single season.