Familiar faces in the Lowcountry 😀 2011 champ Caroline Wozniacki and Charleston local Emma Navarro (World No. 17) hit the clay for some practice 🎾 #CharlestonOpen
2024 Charleston Open WTA PREVIEW as clay court season begins featuring PEGULA, JABEUR, SAKKARI and WOZNIACKI
WTASunday, 31 March 2024 at 16:00
Taking place between April 1 - 7, 2024, the Charleston Open is the first stop on the clay court swing and with the WTA not playing Monte-Carlo represents one of only a few chances before the Madrid and Rome double for some pre Roland Garros wins.
Being in North Carolina, the Charleston Open benefits from most of the top names already being in the United States prior to heading to Stuttgart and Rouen in most cases over the week after and the field is mainly those who lost early in Miami. Headlined by Jessica Pegula, Maria Sakkari and Caroline Wozniacki as well as Leylah Fernandez, Ons Jabeur and Victoria Azarenka, it is a stacked line-up for a WTA 500 only a week after the Sunshine Double.
Defending champion Jabeur returns desperate for form
With her knee still being a major issue, Jabeur has barely won a match in recent months. She has lost in particular to Mirra Andreeva, Lesia Tsurenko, Elina Avanesyan and Katie Volynets in recent months. But due to the cyclical nature of the tennis season, she cannot take time off to regroup.
Especially given that she is defending her title from 12 months ago where she defeated Belinda Bencic. But of the big names, Jabeur is the most vulnerable in this draw especially in the section she is in. She will face currently (withdrawal potentially pending) Danielle Collins who has just won Miami or Paula Badosa. The third round won't get easier either with likely Leylah Fernandez or as she has been known in the past Claylah who will face Magdalena Frech or Sloane Stephens in the second round. So very much not the draw to boost confidence despite being on a different surface.
Pegula leads field of other top names including Sakkari, Kasatkina, Wozniacki
But it is perhaps WTA's consistency queen, Jessica Pegula who will be favourite for the title this week. Finding some sort of spark before being defeated by Ekaterina Alexandrova in Miami, she has been in and out all season with illness, injury and coaching changes. But seems to have started finding some semblance of form at the right time. She could face Amanda Anisimova in the second round.
Others involved in Charleston include Maria Sakkari, Elina Svitolina, Daria Kasatkina, Victoria Azarenka and Emma Navarro. Caroline Wozniacki has also taken her first wildcard of the clay court season. She opens up potentially against a qualifier then Anhelina Kalinina. Even getting Daria Kasatkina lost on her way to the hotel who ironically could await a few rounds in.
While Stuttgart the week after has a must watch line-up there are still a lot of story-lines awaiting over the next week or so in Charleston and amid Bogota also taking place is the pick of the tournaments next week.
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mandoist03-11-2024 - Players need to STOP TRYING TO JUSTIFY THEIR INCLUSION! They are not ambassadors for women in Saudi Arabia, they are not politicians, and they will never make a difference for females in that 'culture'. This little tennis "tournament" changes nothing. Players were lured by the money, opted to participate, and should just keep their predictable excuses and Women's Freedom Fairy Tales to themselves. Period. Like most things in Life -- one cannot make an argument against the Saudi Regime and, at the same time, triple your bank account with their "gifts".mandoist03-11-2024
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