Family Circle Cup 2012 at Charleston features Williams Sisters, Stosur

The Family Circle Cup 2012 is a WTA tennis tournament held in Charleston, South Carolina and for the 2012 event, matches can be watched live online through video streaming here. This tennis tournament is a WTA premier-level and was first held in 1973. Past champions of the Charleston tennis tournament include tennis legends Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Chris Evert and Martina Hingis. Evert holds the record of eight titles won in this event.

The 2012 Charleston tennis tournament will feature five players in the top 10. Top-seeded is world #4 Agnieszka Radwanska who earlier this year won titles in Dubai and Miami. US Open champion Samantha Stosur is seeded second in the event; Stosur won the title in 2010. Third seed is Marion Bartoli who snapped the perfect record of world #1 Victoria Azarenka in the recently concluded Miami tennis tournament. World #9 Vera Zvonareva is seeded fourth while American top player Serena Williams is the fifth seed. Serena won the title in 2008 and finished runner-up to Justine Henin in 2003.

Other former champions in the 2012 singles draw include 2007 champion Jelena Jankovic and 2004 champion Venus Williams. Venus is a wildcard entry due to a low ranking caused by a low number of tournaments played in the past 12 months. The defending champion in the event, Caroline Wozniacki, is not defending the title this year. Other recent champions who are still active players are Sabine Lisicki in 2009 and Nadia Petrova in 2006.

Tournament Profile:

Tier: Premier
Prize Money: $740,000
Surface: Clay/Outdoors
Tournament Director: Bob Moran
Date: March 30 - April 8, 2012

The singles draw has been completed this Saturday with #1 seed Radwanska and #4 seed Zvonareva drawn in the top half while #2 seed Stosur and #3 seed Bartoli in the bottom half. If seedings hold, the potential quarterfinal match-ups will be Radwanska against #8 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Zvonareva vs Serena, Bartoli vs #6 seed Lisicki, and Stosur vs #7 seed Jankovic. Venus Williams may potentially meet Jankovic in the second round if she gets past a qualifier in the first round.

The winner will receive $115,000 in prize money and 470 ranking points. The finalist will get $59,000 and 320 ranking points. Watch the Family Circle Cup 2012 live online through TennisTv.com.