23-year-old American Peyton Stearns has enjoyed a rather humdrum start to her campaign. She is 8-9 for the season, failing to pick up a single quarterfinal appearance.
2025 WTA Tour
WTA 500
Charleston Open
LTP-Daniel Island, South Carolina, USA (Outdoor Clay)
Selected Round of 32 Matches- 2nd April
Peyton Stearns 0.48 vs Ajla Tomljanovic 1.6
I actually thought this could be a breakthrough season for Stearns. She made a series of impressive little moves last year, reaching a maiden WTA 1000 quarterfinal and reaching the 3rd round of both the French and US Opens.
Moreover, she won her maiden WTA Tour title last year, showing a suitability for clay by claiming the Rabat crown. She showed incredible mental fortitude in that Rabat final, coming back from a 5-0 deficit to overcome defending champion Bronzetti in the deciding set. I personally think that she should suit these courts quite nicely. She is an aggressive baseliner with a powerhouse forehand. She also moves quite well and tends to flourish on clay. These slightly quicker clay surfaces should give her a bit more purchase for those powerful groundstrokes.
Veteran Aussie Alja Tomljanovic improved to 6-6 for the season after a gritty comeback win over Kyoka Okamura. The Aussie reached the semifinals in Austin but has otherwise been fairly underwhelming this campaign. The Aussie- of Croatian descent- was marred by a series of injuries during the formative years of her career. Injuries have continued to dog her in recent years: she needed minor surgery to remove fibroids last February. I think that all the interruptions have stunted her development. Still, the Aussie has a powerhouse game that can devastate on her day (you don’t reach three Grand Slam quarterfinals without some ability). She did reach the final of last year’s Birmingham Classic (losing to Putintseva in the championship match). She has a strong serve and durable backhand. Her forehand- while her most powerful weapon- can also become a bit of an unforced errors machine.
The Verdict: Stearns to win in straight sets at 1.09- This will be their first career meeting. I think that Stearns could thrive on these surfaces. Tomljanovic had to dig deep against Nakamura and I think Stearns- if she starts off on the front-foot- could dispatch of her quite easily. These surfaces have a bit of zip and should be conducive to Stearns’ juggernaut forehand.
