Wozniacki, Haddad Maia among Charleston main-draw wild cards

The Credit One Charleston Open announced four main-draw wild cards on Wednesday, with Caroline Wozniacki, Beatriz Haddad Maia, Shelby Rogers and Clervie Ngounoue boosting the field at next week's WTA 500 event. Main-draw play begins Monday, April 1.

Former World No.1 Wozniacki will return to the green clay of South Carolina for the seventh time, as she continues her return from maternity leave. Wozniacki has had tremendous success at Charleston in the past, winning the title in 2011 and reaching another final in 2019. She is 20-5 at Charleston over her career.

Wozniacki came back from her three-year leave last summer, and she has already rocketed from no ranking to World No.129 in the past six months. The 2018 Australian Open champion made the first quarterfinal of her comeback earlier this month at WTA 1000 Indian Wells.

World No.13 Haddad Maia will play in Charleston for the first time since 2018. Haddad Maia had a breakthrough major result on clay last year, reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal at Roland Garros. That performance helped her become the first Brazilian to crack the WTA Top 10 since the WTA rankings were introduced in 1975.

Rogers is a Charleston native who will play the Credit One Charleston Open main draw for the ninth time in her career, as she returns from injuries which caused her to miss the second half of last season. The former Top 30 player's best showing at the tournament was a run to the 2017 quarterfinals. 

Ngounoue will contest the tournament for the first time after exceptional results on the junior circuit over the past two years. The 17-year-old American won the Wimbledon junior singles title last year and has also won two junior Grand Slam doubles titles. She peaked at Junior World No.1 last year.

The four wild cards bolster a field already led by three Top 10 players: Jessica Pegula, defending champion Ons Jabeur, and Maria Sakkari. Wozniacki also joins fellow Grand Slam champions Victoria Azarenka, Sofia Kenin and 2016 Charleston champion Sloane Stephens in the field.