The WTA Charleston Open 2025 will kick-start on on Monday, March 31 with its first round match as Sofia Kenin, Harriet Dart and Veronika Kudermetova take to court. Get the best predictions and tips for the day from Charleston Open 2025.
Sofia Kenin vs Bernarda Pera
This will be the second career meeting between these two players with Bernarda Pera having overcome Sofia Kenin in Cleveland in 2022. That was played in a hardcourt competition, and here we are on clay as both players look to get started for the season on this surface.
Kenin has had a solid start to the year and is 10-8 on win-loss and that has helped her climb up from her season’s starting rank of 81st to her current 44th. On clay, however, Kenin hasn’t done too much of note since reaching the 2020 French Open final but that could be down to her form issues following her fitness woes.
She did make it to the third round at the French Open last year though and overall, her play has been good enough as compared to Pera.
Pera was once ranked 27th in the world and that was thanks to her semifinal appearance on the clay courts of Roland-Garros in 2021. Like Kenin though, her performances on the red dirt have tapered off since then.
This year, Pera has won just four main draw matches at the highest level and that by itself should give Kenin a massive edge here.
Kenin v Pera Tip: Kenin to win: 11/20
Harriet Dart vs Varvara Gracheva
Harriet Dart will be facing Varvara Gracheva for the first time in her career and she would be desperate to make an impression. That’s after the British player fell to 109th in the world following an underwhelming start to the season in which she has won just one main draw match at this level.
Dart has been forced to feature on the ITF circuit as a result and even a step up to the WTA 125s has proved to be a difficult kettle of fish for her.
Add the fact that Dart hasn’t been too active on clay all her career, she could face a huge task going up against the 66th-ranked Gracheva.
Gracheva has had her own issues this year with only a second round appearance at both, the Australian Open and Indian Wells Open to show for her efforts but her clay court record is far better than Dart.
Like for instance, Gracheva made the fourth round at the French Open last year and was a semifinalist at the WTA 125 event in Paris on clay.
No surprises then that Gracheva starts off a 1/3 favourite, a tad short but one we think is one of the safest bet of the day.
Dart v Gracheva Tip: Gracheva to win: 1/3
Veronika Kudermetova vs Maria Mateas
World number 52 Veronika Kudermetova has a good chance of adding to her solid performances in Charleston when she takes on the 230th-ranked Maria Mateas in what will be her first match on clay this year.
Kudermetova, who has had a mixed bag of a season but still improved 20 places from the start of the season, was a 2021 winner here and reached the quarterfinal of this event last year.
In 2025, Kudermetova has shown glimpses of her old sparkle – she is a former world number nine – reaching the fourth round at the Australian Open, a quarterfinal at Hobart and beating Ekaterina Alexandrova in Dubai after starting out as a qualifier.
There have been some poor results too though for Kudermetova, including a double-bagel at the hands of Belinda Bencic in Abu Dhabi and an opening round exit against Jaqueline Cristian in Indian Wells.
Mateas enters this tournament as a wildcard entrant which is something she got nine years ago when she made her debut at the Stanford Open. Since then she has barely done anything of note at this level and all her performances have been restricted to the ITF circuit.
None of her seven ITF finals have come on clay though, indicating it could get even tougher for her here.
Kudermetova v Mateas Tip: Under 18.5 games in the match: 5/6
Other Charleston Open 2025 Predictions of the Day
- Caroline Dolehide v Elisabetta Cocciaretto: Cocciaretto to win: 5/6
- Katie Volynets v Katherine Sebov: Volynets to win in straight sets: 3/5
- Ann Li v Anna Blinkova: Blinkova to win: 9/11
- Viktoriya Tomova v Robin Montgomery: Three sets in the match: 6/4
- Anhelina Kalinina v Caty McNally: Kalinina to win: 10/11
- Ajla Tomljanovic v Kyoka Okamura: Tomljanovic to win: 1/4
- Polina Kudermetova v Irina Begu: Polina to win a set – Yes: 4/5
