Main draw play at the 2026 WTA Charleston Open will begin Monday, March 30. The Charleston Open is a WTA 500 level event and marks the start of the clay-court swing following the recent conclusion of the hard-court Sunshine Double. This outdoor clay-court tournament has a 48-player draw with byes for the top 16 seeds and features numerous women's tennis stars, including seven top-20 players. Below are the top title contenders, dark horses and sleepers for the 2026 Charleston Open.
Favorite to Win the 2026 Charleston Open
Jessica Pegula: Pegula is the clear title favorite as the defending champion and No. 1 seed at the Charleston Open. The world No. 5 is 19-4 to begin 2026, and three of those losses have come against world No. 2 Elena Rybakina, so Pegula will be relieved not to see Rybakina in the draw here. In fact, Pegula is the only top-10 player participating in the Charleston Open this year, though the remainder of the top eight seeds are all ranked between No. 11 and 21. Pegula's chalk path to the final would have her face No. 14 seed Elisabetta Cocciaretto in the Round of 16, No. 7 Diana Shnaider or No. 9 Leylah Fernandez in the quarterfinals and No. 4 seed Iva Jovic in the semifinals, with No. 2 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, No. 3 Belinda Bencic or No. 5 Madison Keys as potential opponents in the final. It's worth noting that Pegula's strong start to the year has come
Main draw play at the 2026 WTA Charleston Open will begin Monday, March 30. The Charleston Open is a WTA 500 level event and marks the start of the clay-court swing following the recent conclusion of the hard-court Sunshine Double. This outdoor clay-court tournament has a 48-player draw with byes for the top 16 seeds and features numerous women's tennis stars, including seven top-20 players. Below are the top title contenders, dark horses and sleepers for the 2026 Charleston Open.
Favorite to Win the 2026 Charleston Open
Jessica Pegula: Pegula is the clear title favorite as the defending champion and No. 1 seed at the Charleston Open. The world No. 5 is 19-4 to begin 2026, and three of those losses have come against world No. 2 Elena Rybakina, so Pegula will be relieved not to see Rybakina in the draw here. In fact, Pegula is the only top-10 player participating in the Charleston Open this year, though the remainder of the top eight seeds are all ranked between No. 11 and 21. Pegula's chalk path to the final would have her face No. 14 seed Elisabetta Cocciaretto in the Round of 16, No. 7 Diana Shnaider or No. 9 Leylah Fernandez in the quarterfinals and No. 4 seed Iva Jovic in the semifinals, with No. 2 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, No. 3 Belinda Bencic or No. 5 Madison Keys as potential opponents in the final. It's worth noting that Pegula's strong start to the year has come exclusively on her favorite hard-court surface, as this will be her first clay-court event of 2026.
In the Mix to Win the 2026 Charleston Open
Belinda Bencic: Bencic is coming off a strong showing at the Miami Open, where the world No. 12 notched straight-sets wins over Shnaider and Amanda Anisimova before falling in three sets to Coco Gauff in the quarterfinals. Seeded No. 3 here, Bencic looks like the favorite to emerge from a bottom half of the draw that features some struggling top seeds. Bencic's chalk quarterfinal opponent Keys is just 2-3 in her last five matches and 8-5 in 2026 overall while potential semifinal opponent Alexandrova is 5-8 this year. Meanwhile, Bencic is up to 12-4 this year, with only one of those losses coming against an opponent ranked outside the top 10. Bencic won the Charleston Open in 2022.
Madison Keys: Keys hasn't managed to replicate her hot start to 2025, which included winning the Australian Open, but the big-hitting American can still beat anybody on the WTA Tour. Keys' risky game style makes her vulnerable to upsets when she puts forth error-filled performances, but she also has all the tools to control play against any opponent she could face at the Charleston Open, even on clay courts that play substantially slower than the hard courts on which most of the season has been played up to this point. As the No. 5 seed, Keys could be tasked with topping the top three seeds consecutively from the quarterfinals onward, but she has the game to get through that Bencic-Alexandrova-Pegula gauntlet if Keys gets into a rhythm. Keys' career clay-court highlights include reaching the French Open semifinals in 2018 and winning the Charleston Open in 2019.
Sleepers to Win the 2026 Charleston Open
Hailey Baptiste: Baptiste is enjoying a breakout year in 2026, and the 24-year-old American is coming off a quarterfinal run at the Miami Open during which she defeated three top-25 players before falling to top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka. Baptiste's variety should help her successfully transition from hard court to clay, which rewards movement and point construction over pure power. Seeded 15th here, Baptiste has a chance to pick up another statement win in a potential Round of 16 matchup against the slumping No. 2 seed Alexandrova.
Alycia Parks: The 105th-ranked Parks is unseeded here, but her powerful game allows her to go toe-to-toe with some of the WTA Tour's best. She won the first set against Gauff and Karolina Muchova in three-set losses this year in addition to finishing the job in wins over Shnaider and Maria Sakkari, both of whom are top-10 seeds at the Charleston Open. Parks could get another chance at a marquee win in the second round here against her fourth-seeded American compatriot Jovic. Parks is in a part of the draw that looks ripe to produce a surprise semifinalist, as Jovic, Anna Kalinskaya, Sakkari and Sofia Kenin are the seeds in that section.
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