Get ready to slide. The clay-court season of the Hologic WTA Tour begins next week, and the first WTA 500 event on the surface is the Credit One Charleston Open on the iconic green clay of Charleston.
This season marks the 53rd edition of the event, which started on Hilton Head Island in 1973 and now stands as the oldest all-women's professional tennis tournament in the United States. It has also been voted as the WTA 500 Tournament of the Year for the past three seasons.
Main-draw play begins on Monday, March 31, with 48 singles players (including half of the Top 20) and 16 doubles teams competing for over one million dollars in total prize money. The singles and doubles finals will take place on Sunday, April 6.
With the Road to Roland Garros kicking off in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, here are the key facts you need to know:
Charleston: Draws | Scores | Order of play | Main draw breakdown
Main-Draw Start Date: Monday, March 31
Singles Final: Sunday, April 6, not before 2:30 p.m.
Doubles Final: Sunday, April 6 at 12 p.m.
Qualifying Dates: Saturday, March 29 and Sunday, March 30
Main-Draw Ceremony: Saturday, March 29 at 3 p.m.
Singles Main-Draw Size: 48 players (including 6 qualifiers and 4 wild cards)
Doubles Main-Draw Size: 16 teams
Time Zone: Eastern Daylight Time (GMT -4)
Tournament Ball: Dunlop Grand Prix Regular Duty
Here are some key storylines to watch for in Charleston:
- Danielle Collins will return as the defending champion. She won her first WTA 500-level title here last year, just a week after she won her first WTA 1000-level title at Miami. Her run through the Charleston draw was the middle of her 15-match winning streak that eventually boosted her back into the Top 10.
- Madison Keys, who routinely speaks of Charleston as one of her favorite events on tour, will contest the event as a newly minted Grand Slam champion and at a career-high ranking of No. 5. Keys reached the final in 2015 and grabbed the Charleston title in 2019.
- Another American, Jessica Pegula, will be the No. 1 seed. World No. 4 Pegula is seeking her first trip to the Charleston final after being halted in the semifinals by the No. 4 seed in each of the last two years -- in 2023, that was Belinda Bencic, and last year it was Daria Kasatkina who ended her run.
- Emma Navarro will compete in her local event at new heights, having made her Top 10 debut and reached multiple Grand Slam quarterfinals (including a Grand Slam semifinal at the US Open) within the past 12 months. Charleston's Navarro made her WTA Tour main-draw debut at this event in 2019.
- Along with Collins and Keys, other former Charleston champions on the main-draw entry list include Daria Kasatkina (2017), Veronika Kudermetova (2021) and Belinda Bencic (2022). This will be Bencic's eighth tour-level event since her return from maternity leave -- she has already won a title (Abu Dhabi) and is back in the Top 50.
Charleston ranking points and prize money
First round: 1 point | $6,400
Second round: 32 points | $7,975
Round of 16: 60 points | $12,900
Quarterfinals: 108 points | $25,550
Semifinals: 195 points | $51,085
Finalist: 325 points | $101,000
Champion: 500 points | $164,000
