Tennis Atlantic

Steve Fogleman in Charleston

Katherine Sebov has been here before. The Canadian 26-year-old qualified for the 2023 Charleston Open and managed to upset Lauren Davis in the first round. She’s only 3-6 in career main draw WTA matches and one of those wins came on Daniel Island. Sebov crushed Kyoka Okamura on Sunday, 6-4, 6-2 and faces American Katy Volynets on Credit One Stadium this afternoon. I’m going to go long and take Sebov for the win at +395 over Volynets. My only concern for Sebov’s chances is that she didn’t spend any time on Stadium Court over the weekend. Still. this feels like 2023, and I like the odds.

Kyoka Okamura was a lucky loser and finds herself in an opening round match against Alja Tomljanovic. I appreciated her solid win over 16-year-old Anna Dvoracka in the first round of qualifying, and her +340 odds are tempting, but I will call this one for Tomljanovic in straights.

Caroline Dolehide versus Elisabeth Cocciaretto is a great first round match for a WTA 500. Cocciaretto is a slight -121 favorite and made the round of 16 on the terre battue of Roland Garros in 2024. She gets the nod today.

Caty McNally qualified over American compatriot Claire Liu yeasterday, 6-4, 6-2, and beat Arina Rodionova in a shortened match on Saturday, 6-1, 3-0. She looked to be in form and both of the wins were on Stadium Court. For that court experience, I will take McNally to win this match over Anhelina Kalinina as a slight -113 favorite.

Madison Keys will (hopefully) be here all week. Yesterday, she specialized in signing shirts. I always love when kids beg her to sign them but then wince like it’s going to hurt or something. It’s not a tattoo, kid, and remember, you asked for this.

Afternoon wind gusts and a possible evening thunderstorm could affect play today.