Tennis Atlantic

Steve Fogleman in Charleston

The Charleston Open, a WTA 500 event, opened with a slimmer qualifying field than in years past on Saturday. With no alternates on site, the tournament was forced to cancel one of the twelve matches on the schedule, leading to bigger crowds on the limited number of courts. For what may be the first time, Stadium Court was engaged for three of the day’s matches. Louisa Chirico battled Ana Konjuh first on Stadium, with Chirico prevailing, 6-4, 6-4 and with shoes full of dirt.

The photo above shows an impressive crowd for a match on Stadium and it was only an opening qualifier. Less matches gave the illusion of more fans. That photo was taken just moments before 35-year-old Arina Rodionova retired against Caty McNally. McNally will go up against Claire Liu on Stadium Court today after Liu ousted Alana Smith, 6-4, 6-2 on the same court yesterday.

Only one of the eleven matches went three sets on Saturday, so it “qualified” as the most exciting match. Iryna Shymanovich edged past doubles specialist Lyudmyla Kichenok, 6-2, 0-6, 6-3, but both players possessed plenty of fight through match point. Match point itself had volleys, lobs, a net cord and a “sorry” to end the contest. Shymanovich will look to qualify for the main draw with a win over American Elvina Kalieva today.

Blast from the past: Bethanie Mattek-Sands had no trouble passing Sophie Chang yesterday, 6-3, 6-1. She needs to get past Shuai Zhang today in order to punch her ticket to the dance.

Kyoka Okamura was a 6-2, 6-2 winner over 16-year-old Anna Dvorackova on Althea Gibson. Dvorackova was in good spirits despite the defeat, as the Junior must have sensed that she’ll be back in Charleston–and beyond–throughout her career.

Madison Keys has always been a popular player with American fans. This blog has followed her all the way since the 2011 US Open Wild Card Playoffs in College Park, Maryland. But, Wow. Keys is low-key big deal material after her Australian Open singles title in January. Charleston matked the first time that most of these spectators got a chance to see her in person as a grand slam champ and they delivered. She deserves the love.