Charleston fallen seeds open door for deep runs

Caroline Wozniacki is the only Top 6 seed in Charleston to survive to the quarterfinals. Is it the lingering effects from Indian Wells and Miami, or is the unique green clay a slippery challenge?

No. 20seeded Johanna Konta never unpacked her rackets at Charleston. She needed rest after her career’s greatest win at the Miami Open.

The second round was a wild Wednesday featuring three huge upsets, and late-night torrential thunderstorms. Qualifier Fanny Stollar erased No. 4 seed Elina Vesnina in two tiebreakers, before retiring midway through her next round on Thursday.

Venus Williams dropped her level after a semifinal run in Miami, but she fought hard, staving off one match point before bowing out in three sets to Laura Siegemund.

The German had survived a three-setter before defeating Venus, and she followed that up with another amazing performance over former French Open finalist Lucie Safarova.

The most impressive upset may have been hometown hero Shelby Rogers taking out No. 1 seed Madison Keys. She attributed her win to her service returns and added that the green clay allowed her to offset some of Keys’ greater power.

Rogers then eased past Naomi Osaka to reach the quarterfinals, capped off with a slightly awkward hug.

And who cannot love the story of Rogers' childhood journey from ball girl to playing in the quarterfinals years later?

In other second-round action, ninth-seeded Daria Gavrilova lost to a fellow Daria (Kasatkina), but their friendship remained firmly intact.

Meanwhile Wozniacki becomes the heavy favorite. The Dane’s defensive prowess and athleticism allow her to shift on the fly, even if she had little time to prepare reaching the Miami final, and had to play two matches on Thursday.

Stay tuned; there could be plenty of surprises left in Charleston this weekend.