The 2021 Charleston Open (branded as the 2021 Volvo Car Open for sponsorship reasons) tournament was a women's professional tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts at the Family Circle Tennis Center on Daniel Island in Charleston, South Carolina. It was the 48th edition of the event on the WTA Tour and was classified as a WTA 500 tournament on the 2021 WTA Tour. It was the first of two Charleston Open tournaments in consecutive weeks at the same facility (the second was the 2021 MUSC Health Women's Open),[1] and were the only events of the annual tour's clay court season to be played on green clay. The first tournament of the 2021 doubleheader was the last to be sponsored by Chinese automaker Geely, the owner of Volvo Cars.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and local health guidelines impacting the facility's construction timeline, tournament organizers held the event behind closed doors for the second consecutive year after the preceding year's exhibition tournament was held under similar conditions. The main stadium was demolished in 2020 and tournament organizers had originally planned to host the event for up to 3,000 fans on a smaller temporary stadium on the secondary court, named the Althea Gibson Court.[2][3]
Veronika Kudermetova won her maiden career WTA title in the singles tournament.[4] Nicole Melichar and Demi Schuurs won their third title as a team in the doubles tournament.[5]
Champions
Singles
Veronika Kudermetova def. 
Danka Kovinić, 6–4, 6–2
Doubles
Nicole Melichar / 
Demi Schuurs def. 
Marie Bouzková / Lucie Hradecká, 6–2, 6–4
Points and prize money
Point distribution
| Event | W | F | SF | QF | Round of 16 | Round of 32 | Round of 64 | Q | Q2 | Q1 |
| Women's singles | 470 | 305 | 185 | 100 | 55 | 30 | 1 | 25 | 13 | 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Women's doubles | 1 | — | — | — | — | — |
Prize money
| Event | W | F | SF | QF | Round of 16 | Round of 32 | Round of 64 | Q2 | Q1 |
| Women's singles | $68,570 | $50,130 | $26,745 | $12,670 | $6,480 | $4,100 | $3,330 | $2,000 | $1,020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Women's doubles | $25,230 | $17,750 | $10,000 | $5,500 | $3,500 | — | — | — | — |
Singles main draw entrants
Seeds
| Country | Player | Ranking1 | Seed |
|---|---|---|---|
 AUS
|
Ashleigh Barty | 1 | 1 |
| USA
|
Sofia Kenin | 4 | 2 |
| CZE
|
Petra Kvitová | 10 | 3 |
| NED |
|||
 SUI
|
Belinda Bencic | 12 | 5 |
 ESP
|
Garbiñe Muguruza | 13 | 6 |
 BEL
|
Elise Mertens | 17 | 7 |
| USA
|
Madison Keys | 19 | 8 |
| CZE |
|||
 KAZ
|
Elena Rybakina | 24 | 10 |
 TUN
|
Ons Jabeur | 28 | 11 |
| USA
|
Amanda Anisimova | 31 | 12 |
| KAZ
|
Yulia Putintseva | 33 | 13 |
| USA
|
Coco Gauff | 36 | 14 |
| RUS
|
Veronika Kudermetova | 37 | 15 |
 CHN
|
Zhang Shuai | 43 | 16 |
| CZE
|
Marie Bouzková | 47 | 17 |
- 1 Rankings as of March 22, 2021.[6]
Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the main draw:
The following players received entry using a protected ranking into the main draw:
The following players received entry from the qualifying draw:
Magdalena Fręch- Desirae Krawczyk
- Grace Min
- Asia Muhammad
Kurumi Nara- Storm Sanders
Gabriela Talabă- Natalia Vikhlyantseva
The following players received entry as lucky losers:
Withdrawals
- Before the tournament
- Irina-Camelia Begu → replaced by
Leylah Annie Fernandez - Kiki Bertens → replaced by Wang Xinyu
- Anna Blinkova → replaced by
Tímea Babos - Danielle Collins → replaced by
Martina Trevisan 
Fiona Ferro → replaced by Anastasia Potapova
Polona Hercog → replaced by Nao Hibino
Kaia Kanepi → replaced by Caroline Dolehide- Anett Kontaveit → replaced by
Harriet Dart - Barbora Krejčíková → replaced by Danka Kovinić
- Ann Li → replaced by Misaki Doi
Jeļena Ostapenko → replaced by Christina McHale- Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova → replaced by
Tsvetana Pironkova - Jessica Pegula → replaced by Zarina Diyas
Rebecca Peterson → replaced by 
Renata Zarazúa
Maria Sakkari → replaced by Francesca Di Lorenzo
Laura Siegemund → replaced by Liudmila Samsonova- Kateřina Siniaková → replaced by Lauren Davis
- Jil Teichmann → replaced by Madison Brengle
- Markéta Vondroušová → replaced by Whitney Osuigwe
- Heather Watson → replaced by Caty McNally
Retirements
Doubles main draw entrants
Seeds
| Country | Player | Country | Player | Rank1 | Seed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USA
|
Nicole Melichar | NED
|
Demi Schuurs | 23 | 1 |
| HUN
|
Tímea Babos | RUS
|
Veronika Kudermetova | 30 | 2 |
| CHN
|
Xu Yifan | CHN
|
Zhang Shuai | 39 | 3 |
 CHI
|
Alexa Guarachi | USA
|
Desirae Krawczyk | 39 | 4 |
- 1 Rankings as of March 22, 2021.
Other entrants
The following pair received a wildcard into the doubles main draw:
The following pairs received entry into the doubles main draw using protected rankings:
Oksana Kalashnikova / Alla Kudryavtseva- Vania King / Yaroslava Shvedova
- Ellen Perez / CoCo Vandeweghe
Withdrawals
- Before the tournament
- Ashleigh Barty / Storm Sanders → replaced by Misaki Doi / Nao Hibino
- Anna Blinkova / Lucie Hradecká → replaced by Oksana Kalashnikova / Alla Kudryavtseva
- During the tournament
References
- ^ "Charleston Tennis to host WTA 250 tournament following Volvo Car Open". Volvo Car Open. March 18, 2021. Archived from the original on April 10, 2021. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
- ^ Dillane, Matt (January 5, 2021). "WTA sets April 5 start date for Volvo Car Open". ABC News 4. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
- ^ ""Made-for-TV tournament": 2021 Volvo Car Open will not include fans". Tennis. February 6, 2021. Archived from the original on February 19, 2022. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
- ^ "Veronika Kudermetova wins Charleston's Volvo Car Open to claim 1st career WTA title". ESPN. Associated Press. April 11, 2021. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
- ^ Nguyen, Courtney (April 12, 2021). "Champions Corner: Melichar, Schuurs forging a partnership to last". Women's Tennis Association. Archived from the original on April 12, 2021. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
- ^ "Defending champion Madison Keys, World #1 Ashleigh Barty headline Volvo Car Open field". live5news.com.
