Jessica Pegula says what she is sure Emma Navarro is going to do one day after reacting to ‘amazing’ Charleston Open announcement

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Jessica Pegula has won her first clay court title at the Charleston Open this year after beating Sofia Kenin in the final.

Pegula had to fight to beat Kenin in the final, coming from a huge 5-1 deficit in the second set before getting the job done.

The now world number three has made history by doing so, with Pegula doing something Aryna Sabalenka has not by winning the Charleston Open title.

With her latest triumph, Pegula has continued America’s WTA success in 2025, that world number 11 Emma Navarro has also contributed to.

Jessica Pegula is sure Emma Navarro will win the Charleston Open

Pegula and Navarro are often compared due to their respective families wealth, with the latter’s father actually owning the Charleston Open tournament.

Despite his daughter exiting the tournament at the quarter-final stage, tournament boss Ben Navarro made the big announcement that from 2026 the event will be offering equal prize money.

This is the first WTA 500 level tournament to make this commitment, with Ben Navarro claiming that prize money would be ‘roughly’ doubling from next year.

Pegula took home $164,000 for her victory, and gave her verdict on the announcement when speaking in her post-final press conference.

In this reaction, the US Open finalist predicted Emma Navarro to go on and win her home tournament in the years to come.

“I was like not this year, not the year I won it? Come on. No, I’m just kidding,” joked Pegula. “I think that’s amazing, I mean what Ben Navarro and the Navarro family has done for tennis in the US, and women’s tennis especially with doing that is really incredible, and I think he’s been inspired by seeing how well Emma has done and how much women’s tennis can really, really grow. 

“And her being a superstar in her own right, you know I am sure she’s going to probably win this title at some point and that’ll be really cool. But, I think her story has probably really inspired him to grow the sport and I think that’s amazing having a daughter that is successful as she is, it’s cool to see him support that sport and that’s sometimes all it takes.

“And I think that’s amazing, there’s a big discrepancy sometimes in the 500’s and the 250’s from ATP to WTA. Sometimes people don’t realize that, because you know the normal fan knows that Grand Slams are equal prize money, but they don’t know about all the other events that there’s a big discrepancy.

“So, to be able to kind of set the tone and be the probably the first person to do that.. is huge and when you’re setting that tone that sets a trend for other tournaments to do the same, and that’s really, really cool.”

How much prize money do the top five men earn in comparison to the women?

Equal prize money is a big debate in tennis, with all four Grand Slams offering the same for both men and women since 2007.

However, there is still a significant difference at the tour events, evidenced by the career earnings between world number one’s Jannik Sinner and Sabalenka.

Sabalenka has won three Grand Slams like Sinner, and is three years older than him, but has earnt over $6million less in prize money than the Italian.

A similar example is with five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek, who has won more titles than both Sinner and Alcaraz, but again falls short in terms of career earnings.

Even some of the joint ATP/WTA 100 level tournaments do not offer the same, with the Italian Open giving men’s champion Alexander Zverev €263,535 more in prize money than Swiatek in 2024.

However, the WTA are attempting to combat this discretion in earnings in their pledge to have equal prize money at all combined events by 2027.