The Credit One Charleston Open marks the Hologic WTA Tour’s transition to clay — and as such the points are getting longer and more creative. Vote for your favorite of these first-round hot shots below.
Daria Saville had Tamara Korpatsch on a string, running up and down the court — but the German was equal to the task, and pulled off a delicate counter-drop at full stretch to win the point.
Katie Volynets was the victor in the longest match of the year so far, a 3-hour, 43-minute marathon against Arantxa Rus that featured a plethora of bruising exchanges. In this one, an extraordinarily sharp backhand angle broke the rally open for the American, but there were still a few shots of diving and retrieving to go before she managed to wrong-foot Rus for the winner.
Home favorite Shelby Rogers was on the back foot after Claire Liu found an aggressive angled backhand — but somehow managed to chop it back for a winner down the line.
Spins and angles abounded in this point between Clervie Ngounoue and Varvara Gracheva, and it was the teenage American wild card who came up with a bit of extra magic at the end.
Daria Saville and Tamara Korpatsch were at the cat-and-mouse plays again deep into their third set, showing off every shot in the book — and some completely improvised. This time, it was Saville who found the winning pass.
Playing her first match since the Australian Open, Amanda Anisimova delivered an authoritative first-round win over Alizé Cornet — even pulling off a remarkable backwards smash in the final game.
Source: https://www.wtatennis.com/news/3950939/vote-which-was-your-favorite-rally-of-the-charleston-first-round-
