The third-ranked player in the world, Pegula, defeated Badosa in the first set in just 35 minutes then broke to start the second.
Top-seeded The top four seeds advanced to the semifinals of the WTA Charleston clay court tournament on Friday thanks to Jessica Pegula’s victory over Paula Badosa, who was defeated 6-3, 7-6 (8/6), setting up a matchup with the defending champion Belinda Bencic.
In Charleston, fourth-seeded Swiss player Belinda Bencic defeated seventh-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-3, 6-3 to win her tenth straight victory.
Ons Jabeur, the second-seeded team, won after Anna Kalinskaya withdrew from their quarterfinal due to sickness.
When Kalinskaya retired, Jabeur had leads of 6-0 and 4-1, and the Tunisian had advanced to the semifinals three times in a row.
The third-seeded Daria Kasatkina, who defeated ninth-seeded American Madison Keys 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-2 in a matchup of former Charleston champions, will be her opponent next.
In ten career encounters, Kasatkina had only defeated Keys twice.
The third-ranked player in the world, Pegula, defeated Badosa in the first set in just 35 minutes then broke to start the second.
Having successfully completed her service games, Pegula served to win the match at 5-4, but Badosa broke to tie the set.
In the following game, the Spaniard survived a break point as they advanced to the tiebreaker. There, she saved a match point with a forehand winner before handing Pegula another with a forehand long, and it was only after her backhand into the net that Pegula was finally able to celebrate.
Bencic, who is going for her third championship of the year after victories in Adelaide and Abu Dhabi, will be a challenge for Pegula, who is vying for her maiden clay court crown.
Jabeur advanced to her second season semifinal after going 2-0 over Kalinskaya.
Adelaide hosted the first in January. Jabeur, who lost in the finals at Wimbledon and the US Open the previous year, underwent surgery after sustaining a knee injury in the Australian Open.
