2021 Volvo Car Open

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), 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.

Veronika Kudermetova won her maiden career WTA title in the singles tournament. Nicole Melichar and Demi Schuurs won their third title as a team in the doubles tournament.

Singles

 * 🇷🇺 Veronika Kudermetova def. 🇲🇪 Danka Kovinić, 6–4, 6–2

Doubles

 * 🇺🇸 Nicole Melichar / Demi Schuurs def. 🇨🇿 Marie Bouzková / 🇨🇿 Lucie Hradecká, 6–2, 6–4

Seeds

 * 1 Rankings as of March 22, 2021.

Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the main draw:
 * 🇺🇸 Hailey Baptiste
 * Belinda Bencic
 * 🇨🇿 Petra Kvitová
 * 🇺🇸 Emma Navarro
 * 🇨🇿 Markéta Vondroušová

The following players received entry using a protected ranking into the main draw:
 * 🇩🇪 Andrea Petkovic
 * 🇷🇺 Anastasia Potapova
 * 🇰🇿 Yaroslava Shvedova

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:
 * 🇬🇧 Harriet Dart
 * 🇺🇸 Caroline Dolehide
 * 🇺🇸 Whitney Osuigwe
 * 🇨🇳 Wang Xinyu

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

 * 🇪🇸 Garbiñe Muguruza
 * 🇰🇿 Elena Rybakina

Seeds

 * 1 Rankings as of March 22, 2021.

Other entrants
The following pair received a wildcard into the doubles main draw:
 * 🇺🇸 Caroline Dolehide / 🇺🇸 Emma Navarro

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
 * 🇭🇺 Tímea Babos / 🇷🇺 Veronika Kudermetova
 * 🇺🇸 Coco Gauff / 🇺🇸 Caty McNally