Wild cards have a good day in Charleston

Wilds cards Bianca Andreescu and Paula Badosa both won their first round matches today at the Credit One Charleston Open. Their stories, of course, are somewhat different, but both women have experienced serious injuries that have kept them off the tour and robbed them of their rankings. 

Sweet RELIEF 😌🙌@Bandreescu_ rallies to defeat Galfi 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 in her debut on the green clay!#CharlestonOpen pic.twitter.com/wl18Ka1aIf

— Credit One Charleston Open (@CharlestonOpen) March 31, 2026

Andreescu, playing in Charleston for the first time, defeated Dalma Galfi 1-6, 6-4, 6-1. After the match, the Canadian player spoke highly of her opponent: "...I've played her on every surface now, and every match was very difficult. She has an interesting game style. She hits pretty flat on the backhand. She can roll her forehand and kind of like redirect very well, and now she's started to add like drop shots, slice."

Andreescu said she also had to deal with what she called her opponent's "very tricky serve." She said that she practiced patience today, and that it worked most of the time. Andreescu has been playing on the ITF circuit, and she said that one of the things that she had to adjust to is the difference in court size; the challenger courts are smaller. 

The winner of Indian Wells, Toronto and the U.S. Open in 2019, the former world number 4's very bright future was derailed by repeated injuries, and it has since had many starts and stops. Today marked her first tour-level match win of 2026. 

Paula Badosa (photo courtesy of @CharlestonOpen)

 

Paula Badosa, formerly number 2 in the world, won her opening match against Kayla Day 6-4, 6-3. Talking with the media after the match, Badosa said that she felt very positive and that she had moved well on the clay. She received a lot of crowd support today, and it didn't go unnoticed:

"Maybe when you're playing a lot of matches and you're on the top and everything is like, rolling, you're not very conscious about it. But now that things are not going as well as I would like, I'm really conscious about that....So yeah, it brings me more, maybe, self-esteem and less doubt in a way, and I'm like, okay, let me try to play for them, also. So it pushes me and it gives me this extra motivation, and honestly, for me, it's super, super special." 

photo by Diane Elayne Dees

Another winner today was 2022 champion (and 2023 finalist) and 3rd seed Belinda Bencic, who defeated Dayana Yastremska 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3. 

Also advancing was 8th seed Anna Kalinskaya, who defeated Viktoriya Tomova 6-2, 6-4. Talking with the media after her match, Kalinskaya expressed quite well what makes Charleston different for the players: "...I feel like it's very cozy here, so you feel less pressure. ...it's more peaceful."

13th seed Sara Bejlek advanced to the third round when she defeated Akasha Urhobo 6-1, 6-1.

In doubles, top seeds Aleks Krunic and Zhang Shuai defeated Aldila Sutjaidi and Janice Tjen 7-6(3), 7-5.

Tomorrow, top seed and defending champion Jessica Pegula will face off against Yulia Putintseva, and 2nd seed Ekaterina Alexandrova will play Yuliia Starodubtseva.