Astra Sharma

Daniel Island, SC–Most top-seeded players–and a Lucky Loser– advanced in the draw on Tuesday at the Charleston Open. Heavy rains in the area today will likely push the start of play to late afternoon, making for a long night of meaningful matches.

In the day session on Tuesday, Sloane Stephens, Danielle Collins and Maria Sakkari won in straight set matches as big favorites on Stadium Court. On the outer courts, Townsend, Dolehide, Krueger and Cocciaretto advanced while 13 seed Dayana Yastremska was upset by Magda Linette in three sets. Lucky Loser Astra Sharma looked flawless in the second set as she beat Arina Rodionova, 6-4, 6-1.

The night session provided the less predictable. Jessica Pegula stayed poised after giving up the first set to Amanda Anisimova before the #1 seed edged her way to victory, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(3). Madison Keys has always had a love-hate relationship with this surface and became the highest ranked player to lose in the 2024 Charleston WTA 500 event, and did so before a fueled-up Jaqueline Cristian, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3..

Today’s sessions look to be a concentrated version of the best of the player field, with Caroline Wozniacki, Emma Navarro, Shelby Rogers, Vika Azarenka, Elina Svitolina, Elise Mertens and Beatriz Haddad Maia all scheduled on court. None of the mentioned players will compete against each other today. That’s why Danielle Collins vs. Ons Jabeur is the real prize fight scheduled for tonight. Collins hold the edge in meetings, 2-1, with the players last connection being a 6-2, 6-4 Collins win in Miami in 2022, and also notable was a 2020 victory for the American on the terre battue of Roland Garros over Jabeur.

—S. Fogleman

Daniel Island, SC—Once again, we find ourselves between the Wando and Cooper Rivers at a majestic tennis stadium with lush surroundings on land that was a private hunting reserve for the Guggenheim family and foundation until 1996. The vibe is new meets old, and sometimes it feels like the whole community is contrived. Here, there is nothing contrived about the level of tennis and newer always meets older in qualifying.

Britain’s Heather Watson, at 31, is shockingly the oldest player in the qualifying field. She raced out to a 6-0 start, before easing past American Alana Smith, 6-0, 6-4. Watson will face Daria Saville tomorrow for a spot in the main draw, which is a marquee qualies matchup akin to a main draw match itself. In fact, the duo have squared off before in a round of 64 in Madrid in 2016 with Saville the victor, 7-5, 6-4.

Saville, the 30-year-old Australian, was a 6-1, 6-2 winner over American Grace Min.

Another Australian, Astra Sharma, bested younger American Jessie Aney, 6-0, 6-2 in the shortest match of the day at 44 minutes. Her quest for the main draw on Sunday will go through fellow 29-year-old Gabriela Lee, who outlasted Japan’s Mai Hontama, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.

Wild Card Usue Arconada survived a highly competitive straight sets contest over fellow American Elizabeth Mandlik, 7-5, 7-6(5) in a contest that lasted nearly two hours before a capacity crowd on recently enlarged Court 3 stands. The American needs to beat top qualifying seed Varvara Gracheva, who came back from a first set 6-4 loss to prevail over fellow 23-year-old Dalayna Hewitt of the US, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

The scoreline for 22-year-old Katie Volynets win over Katherine Sebov looked easy at 6-3, 6-2. The match was more competitive than it appeared as there were long points throughout the first and second sets to extend it to an hour and 45 minutes. The winner of Ann Li and Robin Anderson will meet up with Volynets tomorrow.

The big winner of the day for the youth movement was Linda Fruhvirtova with a 7-5, 4-6, 6-0 marathon over Nicole Melichar-Martinez, 30. The 18-year-old phenom will advance to the Charleston big dance with a win tomorrow over Claire Lu.

American McCartney Kessler was also a winner on Saturday, 6-2, 6-1, and will face either Lauen Davis or Sachia Vickery in Round 2.

—S. Fogleman