Pegula, Anisimova, Bencic lead loaded Charleston field

Defending champion Jessica Pegula will headline the field at the Credit One Charleston Open, the first tournament of the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz's Clay-Court swing.

She'll be joined by fellow Top 10 player Amanda Anisimova, and Top 20 players Ekaterina Alexandrova, Belinda Bencic, Madison Keys, Iva Jovic and Diana Shnaider.

Bencic won this tournament in 2022, and Keys won it in 2019. Daria Kasatkina, also in this year's field, won it in 2017. (Sloane Stephens, who won the title in 2016, is currently a main draw alternate.)

Other notable names in the WTA 500 field include Elise Mertens, Emma Navarro, Jelena Ostapenko, Maya Joint, Maria Sakkari and Janice Tjen. 

Americans Hailey Baptiste, Sofia Kenin, Peyton Stearns, McCartney Kessler, Caty McNally and Ashlyn Krueger will also be on hand at Credit One Stadium.

This will be Pegula's 12th appearance at the Credit One Charleston Open, dating back to 2011. (It was called the Family Circle Cup then.) After back-to-back semifinal appearances in 2023 and 2024, the World No. 5 won her first Charleston title last year, defeating Kenin in the final.

The Credit One Charleston Open, which has been named WTA 500 Tournament of the Year for four consecutive years, is the first clay-court tournament of the year. 

Beginning on March 30 and concluding on April 5, it features a 48-player singles draw and a 16-team doubles draw.

With deep roots to the very beginning of the WTA, the Credit One Charleston Open started in 1973 -- as the Family Circle Cup -- and has the distinction of being the first women's tennis tournament to offer a prize of $100,000.

All these years later, it's still making history and contributing to the growth of the sport. Last month, the tournament voluntarily doubled its prize money. The financial package has now increased to $2.5 million, making the Charleston Open the first standalone WTA 500 event to proactively offer equal prize money, in line with what is required for an ATP 500 level event.

After Charleston, the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz will head to Linz, Austria for the WTA 500 Upper Austria Ladies Linz.