McCartney Kessler has found her stride in Charleston, stringing together three consecutive wins for the first time this season. In fact, the American hasn't achieved a three-match winning streak since September of last year. However, Kessler's journey to the quarterfinals has been anything but easy, with 2 out of her 3 matches going to the maximum number of sets. She feels comfortable on Charleston's green clay but tends to play in a hardcourt style, relying on a powerful serve that sometimes lacks precision. Naturally, her aggressive approach contributes to a number of errors, although her error rate remains below the women's tour average at 5%.

Unlike her upcoming opponent, Yulia Starodubtseva has been delivering consistent performances much earlier, suffering only three defeats in her last 10 matches. In Charleston, she played one three-set match, but the other two encounters ended in straight sets, with Yulia even handing out "bagels" to Zhang Shuai and Renata Zarazua, showcasing her complete dominance on the court. The Ukrainian has achieved such results through a balanced aggressive style that starts with a reliable serve (73% accuracy) and continues with a variety of baseline shots, which Starodubtseva can hit for winners from almost any position.