The second round of the Credit One Charleston Open had to be spread over three days of play, but amidst the rain several hot shots lit up the tournament. Vote for your favorite below.
Defending champion Our Jabeur may have fallen at the first hurdle to red-hot Danielle Collins, but she didn’t exit the tournament without gifting the crowd a mid-match purple patch. Who else, when chasing down a fierce Collins strike right into the corner, would have thought to respond by chopping a drop shot winner?
Did Jabeur better that a few games later with another piece of magic? Running back to retrieve a lob, the Tunisian flicked one of her own high over Collins’s right shoulder, and was ready to pick off the backhand pass down the line.
Beatriz Haddad Maia stole the second set of her match from Caroline Dolehide a few times. The Brazilian came back from 5-2 down, saving three set points. Then, as Dolehide was serving to force a tiebreak, Haddad Maia snatched the game from her with a pair of pinpoint lobs — the first hit while moving backwards with no time to spare.
Ekaterina Alexandrova is normally known for her first-strike power, but the Miami semifinalist demonstrated supreme movement against Taylor Townsend — not just running side to side, but adjusting when the American wrong-footed her to pivot back and find the requisite angle for the pass.
Few players out there can go toe-to-toe with four-time doubles major champion Elise Mertens at the net. But Varvara Gracheva not only tried it, but succeeded at it — all the while battling swirling wind to boot.
Nothing was unretrievable for Anhelina Kalinina in this point against Caroline Wozniacki en route to her second defeat of the Dane in as many tournaments. The Ukrainian’s creative angles on the run were a marvel, too, but cherry on top was a reaction so understated to finding a lob winner in the corner that the commentator assumed she had missed.
Jessica Pegula served up an instant classic against Amanda Anisimova, a late-night thriller that went down to the wire. The top seed pulled off some spectacular shots, too. In the second set, she showed off extraordinary anticipation, speed and control to track down an Anisimova overhead and flick it back for a winner while standing almost next to the scoreboard.
In the third set, it was an Anisimova drop shot that Pegula managed to not only chase down, but conjure some magic off — this time, a lob at full stretch, setting herself up for an emphatic backhand finish.
Source: https://www.wtatennis.com/news/3953443/vote-which-was-your-favorite-rally-of-the-charleston-second-round-