Slam winners Andreescu, Kenin headline June tennis invitational field

MIAMI, Florida: Bianca Andreescu and Sofia Kenin, winners of the past two Grand Slam titles, headline a 16-player field for an invitational women’s tennis tournament in Charleston, South Carolina in June.

The Tennis Channel is set to air the event and a release on Tennis.com said 16 WTA players would take part, divided into teams and playing 16 singles matches and eight doubles matches.

The tournament starts June 23 and is so far the largest scale tennis event to be confirmed since the ATP and WTA tours were shut down amid the coronavirus pandemic with the French Open postponed and Wimbledon cancelled outright.

Canada’s Andreescu, the reigning US Open champion, and Australian Open winner Kenin head the field, but it will be Americans Madison Keys and Bethanie Mattek-Sands serving as team captains.

Former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens and 2016 Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig are also scheduled to compete.

Charleston has long hosted a WTA tournament, but this year’s event scheduled for April 6-12 was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.