Charleston draw: As the tour moves to clay, Jabeur prepares to defend title

The draw is out for the Credit One Charleston Open and the action will kick off immediately in Round 1. 

World No.5 Jessica Pegula, defending champion and No.6 Ons Jabeur, No.9 Maria Sakkari and No.11 Daria Kasatkina are the top four seeds at the WTA 500 tournament, which begins on Monday, April 1. The Top 16 seeds have received byes into the second round. 

Pegula leads the top half of the draw along with No.4 seed Kasatkina, No.6 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova and No.8 seed and former champion Madison Keys. A semifinalist last year, Pegula will face the winner of the first-round draw between Amanda Anisimova or Alize Cornet.

Alexandrova is coming off a strong two weeks in Miami, where she defeated No.1 Iga Swiatek and Pegula in back-to-back matches en route to the semifinals. She will play the winner in the first-round match between Sofia Kenin and Taylor Townsend. 

Charleston's own Emma Navarro returns to her hometown as a Top 20 player on the Hologic WTA Tour and No.10 seed. This time last year, Navarro, 22, was ranked well outside the Top 100. She will face either Arantxa Rus or a qualifier in her opening match. 

Also floating in the top half of the draw are No.12 seed Victoria Azarenka and former champion and wild card Caroline Wozniacki. The Dane won the title in 2011 and made the final in her last appearance in 2019. She will face a qualifier or lucky loser in the first round. If she wins, Wozniacki will earn a rematch against Anhelina Kalinina in the second round. Kalinina saved match points in Miami to beat Wozniacki in the second round. 

Defending champion Jabeur tops the bottom half of the draw. The Tunisian has made it to Championship Sunday the last two years. She could have a tough opener against either Miami champion Danielle Collins or Paula Badosa. 

Also in the bottom half are No.3 seed Sakkari, No.5 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia, No.7 seed Elina Svitolina and No.9 seed and 2021 champion Veronika Kudermetova.