Lowcountry Lowdown: Unveiling the 2026 Credit One Charleston Open Draw
DEFENDING CHAMP PEGULA AMONG FOUR FORMER TITLISTS IN DRAW
Four former titlists — defending champion Jessica Pegula, Belinda Bencic (2022), Madison Keys (2019) and Sloane Stephens (2016) — were among those who learned their fate on Saturday during the Credit One Charleston Open draw ceremony.
TOP HALF
The top seed Pegula captured the first clay-court title of her career here last year in the form of a 6-3, 7-5 triumph over countrywoman and 2020 Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin. It was a particularly sweet moment for the American, who spent a chunk of her pro career training on Daniel Island. She sits atop the Charleston draw once again in 2026, this time in a quadrant that features compatriots Katie Volynets and Peyton Stearns, seventh seed Diana Shnaider, ninth seed Leylah Fernandez, and 14th seed Elisabetta Cocciaretto.
“I didn’t realize that,” laughed Volynets when informed she was in the same quarter as the defending champion, and could meet Pegula in the quarterfinals. “I’m excited to possibly play against the best players, to be tested. I always look only at my next opponent [Eva Lys]. After that, I don’t know who I’m playing. I’ll forget. I have selective memory toward those kinds of things.”
The ultra-steady Pegula, 32, is riding a streak that has seen her reach the quarterfinals or better in her last nine tournaments, a stretch that includes her 10th career tour-level title in Dubai, her fourth in the WTA 1000 category.
There’ll be no rematch of last year’s final, as Kenin landed in the same half of the draw as Pegula, in a crowded second quarter alongside fourth seed Iva Jovic, 2025 quarterfinalist Anna Kalinskaya and 10th seed Maria Sakkari, as well as a tough trio of wildcard entrants in 2021 Australian Open runner-up Jen Brady, former world No. 2 Paula Badosa, and 2019 US Open champ Bianca Andreescu.
Sofia Kenin
BOTTOM HALF
The 2025 Australian Open titlist Keys, who two years ago married her coach and former ATP pro Bjorn Fratangelo in a ceremony alongside the Kiawah River, finds herself in the bottom half of the draw in a quarter that includes the 2020 Olympic gold medalist Bencic, 11th seed Magdalena Frech and 13th seed Sara Bejlek.
Perhaps the WTA 500 event’s most wide-open quarter can be found at the very bottom, one that presents a golden opportunity for the likes of the 2017 US Open winner Stephens, a wildcard; 2025 Charleston semifinalist Ekaterina Alexandrova, the No. 2 seed; sixth seed Elise Mertens; 12th seed Janice Tjen; and 15th seed Hailey Baptiste.
