Charleston Open named best WTA 500 tournament for 4th consecutive year

Players love the Credit One Charleston Open, voting it the best WTA 500 event for the fourth consecutive year. In the 2025 WTA Awards, North America’s largest women’s-only professional tennis tournament was selected from 18 WTA 500 events worldwide, competing against tournaments in North America, Australia, Europe, China, and the Middle East, among other international locations.

The Tournament of the Year awards are divided into three categories, reflecting the different levels of WTA tournaments. The 2025 winners are:

WTA 1000: Cincinnati OpenWTA 500: Credit One Charleston OpenWTA 250: Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open

“I always look forward to coming back to Charleston each year. The site, city, fans and energy makes the experience so positive for me and all the players,” said Jessica Pegula, 2025 Credit One Charleston Open champion. “Overall the facilities are simply world-class.”

The Credit One Charleston Open will return March 28 – April 5, 2026. Already committed to the tournament are world No. 6 Pegula, world No. 7 Madison Keys, and world No. 15 Emma Navarro.

In April, Credit One Bank extended its title sponsorship of the Credit One Charleston Open through 2031 and announced that the tournament will offer equal prize money starting in 2026, marking a historic milestone for the event. With this announcement, the Credit One Charleston Open becomes the first standalone WTA 500 tournament to voluntarily increase prize money to match comparable ATP 500 events.

The Credit One Charleston Open has been a pioneer in women’s professional sports since 1973, paving the way for female tennis players to receive equal recognition, respect and compensation in the sport. The tournament has a long history of breaking new ground in tennis, having been the first women’s tennis event to offer $100,000 in prize money in 1973 and the first to be broadcast live on network television. The inaugural champion, Rosie Casals, received a check for $30,000, which was the largest prize money payout awarded to a woman that year.

Originally held on Hilton Head Island, the event relocated to Charleston in 2001 and is now played at the LTP Daniel Island tennis center, home to Credit One Stadium.