'Tough' draw for women at Dubai Tennis Championships

The draw for the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships produced a slew of sensational first round clashes for the $2 million tennis spectacular, which gets underway at the Dubai Tennis Stadium on Monday.

Last year’s runner-up Svetlana Kuznetsova faces a huge challenge when she takes on talented German Julia Goerges, while seventh seed and former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone also faces a tough battle after being drawn against another former French Open winner, Ana Ivanovic.

The top four seeds receive a first round bye but then face strong opposition as they try to claim one of the most coveted titles on the WTA Tour.

"Dubai is a special place and I always enjoy coming back here not just for the competition," said Jelena Jankovic.

"It's getting tougher and tougher because I'm getting older and older," she quipped when asked about her chances this week.

In the second round, Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova could clash with Dominika Cibulkova, who ended the 2011 season by reaching the final in Linz and then winning her maiden career title in Moscow, and fourth seed Samantha Stosur is likely to face Lucie Safarova in her opening match, after the in-form Czech caused havoc this week in Doha by upsetting Caroline Wozniacki and Svetlana Kuznetsova.

World number one and Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka will play either 2011 Dubai finalist Kuznetsova or Goerges in the second round, and third seed and defending Dubai champion Caroline Wozniacki could face former junior world number one Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in her opening match.

“There are some very exciting first round matches in prospect, with several top players meeting each other in the first few days of what is certain to be a fantastic week of tennis,” said Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice Chairman of Tournament Owners and organisers Dubai Duty Free. “With the depth in the women’s game, no player is assured of an easy match and it will be fascinating to see which players cause the biggest upsets this year.”

With the championship celebrating its 20th anniversary, the organisers announced plenty of fun for spectactors including a 'catch the ball' contest which could earn the lucky win an all-expenses paid trip to watch Wimbledon.

“I remember the first year, when our top player was Karel Novacek who was number 23  in the world. We built a temporary stadium and tennis village on the grounds of the Aviation Club,” recalled McLoughlin going down memory lane. “Now of course we have the 5,000 seat Tennis Stadium and The Irish Village and Century Village, and we added the women’s tournament in 2001. This year we have 8 of the top ten men and 7 of the top ten women here, so the tournament has certainly grown.”

"This was one of the first big events in Dubai, and we were fortunate to have some reasonable players enter that first year. One thing we really focused on was the hospitality and giving the players a great experience and warm welcome,” said Tournament Director Salah Tahlak who is also a member of the ATP International Tournament Council.

Another 20 year veteran is Chief of Umpires Hany Khafief who started as a line umpire and is now is a qualified Deputy Referee on the ATP and WTA tours.

Two weeks of spectacular tennis begin on Monday with the WTA Tour event that includes three reigning Grand Slam champions in Victoria Azarenka, Petra Kvitova and Samantha Stosur, as well as Dubai defending champion Caroline Wozniacki.

Play then continues on February 27 with the ATP tournament featuring eight of the world’s top 10, including reigning Dubai, Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic, four-time winner Roger Federer, sensational Scot Andy Murray, charismatic Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and recent Montpellier winner Tomas Berdych.

The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships is owned and organised by Dubai Duty Free and held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Tickets for the event are available from the Box Office at the Dubai Tennis Stadium, Garhoud which opens from 9am to 9pm daily.  Grandstand tickets can also be bought online at https://www.timeouttickets.com/.  For further information about tickets, prices and tournaments  visit https://www.dubaidutyfreetennischampionships.com/ or phone the call centre on +971 4 358 9797.

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