WTA: Ladies open clay-court series in Charleston and Bogotá
The WTA tour switches to red ashes and starts the clay court season with the tournaments in Charleston and Bogotá on the American continent before heading to Europe.
by Stefan Bergmann
last edit:
Apr 03, 2022, 08:10 pm
The tennis women now also have to clean their shoes after every match or training session: Just like the ATP tour, the women's tour also changes to the red ashes, spending this week in America before it comes after the Fed Cup in the second week of April then continues with the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart and with a 250 event in Istanbul.
At the WTA Tour 500 tournament in Charleston, four players from the top 10 are at the start. Tournament favorite Aryna Sabalenka, like Paula Badosa, Karolina Pliskova and Ons Jabeur, also has a bye in the first round, as do seeded numbers five through eight. The Belarusian, who started the tournament with a wild card, could face Amanda Anisimova in the round of 16, while local hero Jessica Pegula would wait according to the paper form in the quarterfinals.
Weak tournament grid in Bogotá
Badosa has China's Shuai Zhang on the list as the first possible seeded opponent in the round of 16, while Pliskova beckons a duel with the fickle US player Sloane Stephens in the same round. It will also be interesting to watch Linda Fruhvirtova, who is only 16 years old. After a win against Croatia's Ana Konjuh, the Czech would face either China's Xiyu Wang or Switzerland's Belinda Bencic, who was ranked tenth. There are no other players from the DACH region in South Carolina.
The tournament grid at the WTA Tour 250 tournament in Bogotá looks rather sad: with the local hero Camila Osorio, she is currently 34th in the world rankings. the number one South American clay court event. The second best-placed player in the main draw is the Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia (WTA 62), number eight in the tournament is Harriet Dart from Great Britain, who is just about in the top 100 of the women's world rankings with 99th place. German or Austrian players are not in Colombia.
Here the single tableau from Charleston.
Here the single tableau from Bogotá.