Sloane Stephens won the WTA 500 in Charleston back in 2016, but the former World No. 3 looks very far off that form at the moment. She’s facing Louisa Chirico in the opening round, can she kick off her campaign with a win? As always, we also predict the rest of the day’s matches. We split them between this and three other articles. One features Elina Svitolina vs Yulia Putintseva, the second highlights Jil Teichmann vs Linda Fruhvirtova, and the third features Anna Kalinskaya vs Anhelina Kalinina. Who do you think will advance to the next stage of the event?
WTA Charleston Day 1 Predictions
Lesia Tsurenko vs Paula Ormaechea
Head-to-head: First meeting
Lesia Tsurenko owns a pretty awesome 20-5 win/loss record for the year, which also features two losses via retirement. Can she keep this going against an opponent who’s literally a clay-court specialist? Paula Ormaechea returns to this event after nine years, but she’s been playing on the dirt all season with just one hard-court match in 2023. The Argentinian loves to grind and with Tsurenko’s fitness being an issue recently, her style could turn out very unpleasant for her opponent.
Prediction: Ormaechea in 3
Anna Bondar vs Anna Blinkova
Head-to-head: First meeting
Anna Bondar is just 3-8 for the year, but she’s expected to improve her record once she gets back to her favorite surface. This opening round might end up being very tricky for her though. Anna Blinkova is a fine clay-court player herself and has the attacking repertoire to control the rallies against the Hungarian. Bondar might need a while longer to recover from several straightforward losses she’s picked up recently.
Prediction: Blinkova in 2
Shuai Zhang vs Julia Grabher
Head-to-head: First meeting
Shuai Zhang has never been past the second round here in eight attempts. The Chinese plays an aggressive style with flat strokes that doesn’t really translate well onto clay courts. The green dirt should in theory be at least a tiny bit suitable for her though. The problem for Julia Grabher is that she hasn’t been doing well this year with a 5-11 win/loss record and this might be a pretty scrappy affair.
Prediction: Zhang in 3
Sloane Stephens vs Louisa Chirico
Head-to-head: Stephens 2-0
How far can the 2016 champion go this time? Sloane Stephens once again hasn’t started her season well, only pulling off four wins in seven events so far. This one might not be too easy for her as Louisa Chirico has already got plenty of green clay playtime this year, including two wins in the qualifying here. The head-to-head between them is a bit of ancient history with the last match coming six years ago. Stephens is undeniably the better player, but you never really know whether she’ll show it on the court.
Prediction: Stephens in 3
Main Photo Credit: Mike Frey-USA TODAY Sports
