17 of world’s top 20 female players enter draw for $2.9m Dubai Tennis Championships

World No.1 will take part in the Dubai Tennis Championships from Feb. 19-25 (DDF)
Short Url
Updated 17 February 2023
Follow

17 of world’s top 20 female players enter draw for $2.9m Dubai Tennis Championships

  • World No. 1 Iga Swaitek and Australian Open winner Sabalenka among the field competing at Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium

DUBAI: With only days to go until the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships get under way, a throng of the elite 64-player field — including last month’s Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka and World No.1 Iga Swiatek — are already arriving in the emirate ahead of Saturday’s main draw when they will discover their pathways to the $2.9 million prize purse.

Dubai’s annual WTA 1000 event is set to take place from Feb. 19-25, with the draw scheduled for 1pm on Feb. 18 at the Majlis inside Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium. The official entry list includes nine of the world’s top 10 women and five Grand Slam winners in Sabalenka, Swiatek, two-time Australian Open winner Victoria Azarenka, last year’s Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, and 2018 French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko, who won in Dubai last year.

The draw will be conducted in the presence of Colm McLoughlin, executive vice chairman and chief executive officer at Dubai Duty Free; Ramesh Cidambi, chief operating officer at Dubai Duty Free; and Salah Tahlak, tournament director of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

With Sabalenka, Kaia Kanepi, Jil Teichmann, and Anhelina Kalinina among a host of players already in the emirate for pre-tournament practice and the likes of Belinda Bencic and Madison Keys arriving soon, McLoughlin said this year’s WTA line-up is the best he can remember, evidence of the event’s well-established stature on the WTA Tour.

“When we started our women’s tournament 23 years ago, we aimed to attract as many of the world’s top 10 players as possible,” he said. “As our tournament has grown, so too have our expectations and ambitions. Now, as we prepare for the draw, it makes me very happy to look at the entry list and see we have 17 of the world’s top 20.

“Speak to any of the players competing this year and they will tell you that Dubai is now considered one of the best tournaments on the WTA Tour. I am sure the next week of action both on-court and off-court will only strengthen that reputation.”


Djokovic player union launches legal blitz against governing bodies

Updated 18 March 2025
Follow

Djokovic player union launches legal blitz against governing bodies

  • ATP and WTA responded by vowing to defend themselves against the claims
  • “The lawsuits expose systemic abuse, anti-competitive practices, and a blatant disregard for player welfare that have persisted for decades,” said the PTPA

MIAMI: A tennis union co-founded by Novak Djokovic on Tuesday announced a series of legal actions aimed at the sport’s governing bodies, alleging “anti-competitive restraints and abusive practices.”
The Professional Tennis Players’ Association (PTPA) said it was suing both tour organizers, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA).
The International Tennis Federation (ITF), and International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) were also named as defendants in a series of actions in the United States, United Kingdom and the European Union.
Both the ATP and WTA responded by vowing to defend themselves against the claims with the men’s tour saying the PTPA has “consistently chosen division and distraction through misinformation over progress.”
The PTPA was set up by Djokovic and Canadian Vasek Pospisil in 2020. Some 20 players were named as part of at least one of the actions.
“The lawsuits expose systemic abuse, anti-competitive practices, and a blatant disregard for player welfare that have persisted for decades,” said the PTPA statement.
“The ATP, WTA, ITF, and ITIA operate as a cartel by implementing a number of draconian, interlocking anti-competitive restraints and abusive practices.”
“Tennis is broken,” said Ahmad Nassar, Executive Director of the PTPA.
“Behind the glamorous veneer that the defendants promote, players are trapped in an unfair system that exploits their talent, suppresses their earnings, and jeopardizes their health and safety.”
The statement listed alleged abuses they are targeting.
It said the defendants “colluded,” “fixing prize money and suppressing player earnings” forcing “an unsustainable schedule” and exploiting players financially.
The bodies show a “disregard for players” by making them “compete in 100-degree (Fahrenheit) heat, endure matches that ended at 3 am, and play with different and injury-inducing tennis balls.”
The PTPA also cited image right ownership, sponsorship restrictions and the “draconian system of ranking points.”
The statement also complained that tennis violates player “privacy rights.”
“Players are subjected to invasive searches of personal devices, random middle-of-the-night drug tests, and interrogations without legal representation,” it said.
The ATP said that it was continuing to make change, with player input and hit back at the union.
“While the ATP has remained focused on delivering reforms that benefit players at multiple levels, the PTPA has consistently chosen division and distraction through misinformation over progress,” the statement read.
“Five years on from its inception in 2020, the PTPA has struggled to establish a meaningful role in tennis, making its decision to pursue legal action at this juncture unsurprising.
“We strongly reject the premise of the PTPA’s claims, believe the case to be entirely without merit, and will vigorously defend our position. The ATP remains committed to working in the best interests of the game — toward continued growth, financial stability, and the best possible future for our players, tournaments, and fans,” the tour concluded.
The WTA also defended their approach to the game and said that PTPA’s action “is both regrettable and misguided, and we will defend our position vigorously in due course.”
In addition to Djokovic and Pospisil, the seven-member PTPA executive council also includes players, Hubert Hurkacz, Ons Jabeur, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Taylor Townsend and Zheng Saisai.
Australian Nick Kyrgios, France’s Varvara Gracheva and American Reilly Opelka have joined the PTPA’s case in the United States, while Frenchman Corentin Moutet and Japan’s Taro Daniel have joined the case in the United Kingdom.


Draper powers past Rune to win Indian Wells ATP Masters

Updated 17 March 2025
Follow

Draper powers past Rune to win Indian Wells ATP Masters

  • Draper: All the work I’ve done over the last few years, it feels like it’s all coming together on the big stage and I can’t put that into words
  • Draper’s run to a third career title included victories not only over Alcaraz but also over 2022 Indian Wells winner Taylor Fritz and big-hitting home hope Ben Shelton

INDIAN WELLS, California: Britain’s Jack Draper roared past Denmark’s Holger Rune 6-2, 6-2 on Sunday to win his first ATP Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells.

The 14th-ranked Briton, who toppled two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals, didn’t face a break point as he subdued the 13th ranked Dane in just 69 minutes.

He’ll make his top 10 debut on Monday at seventh in the world.

“It’s incredible,” said Draper, a US Open semifinalist last year whose preparations for 2025 were hindered by a flareup of hip tendinitis.

“I’m just so grateful and happy to be out here, to be able to play, my body feeling healthy, to feel great in my mind.

“All the work I’ve done over the last few years, it feels like it’s all coming together on the big stage and I can’t put that into words,” added the 23-year-old, who also missed significant time with a shoulder injury in 2023.

Draper was rock-solid in his first Masters 1000 final, racing to a 4-0 lead as Rune made a nervous start.

Draper dropped just four points on serve in the opening set as Rune, who burst on the scene with a precocious Paris Masters triumph in 2022, had 10 of his 19 unforced errors in the set.

The Dane had managed to hold serve twice before Draper pocketed the set, giving himself set point with an ace before Rune thumped a backhand into the net.

Draper broke Rune to open the second set, and even though the Dane got a few more looks at Draper’s second serve he couldn’t take advantage.

Draper seized a second break for a 5-2 lead and after sending a forehand long on his first match point he had the win when Rune went long with a backhand.

Draper’s run to a third career title included victories not only over Alcaraz but also over 2022 Indian Wells winner Taylor Fritz and big-hitting home hope Ben Shelton.

“I feel like I deserve it, in all honesty,” Draper said. “It’s an emotional feeling to know how much you’ve gone through and put in and to be here now to say that I’m going to be No. 7 sin the world tomorrow, I can’t tell you how much that means to me.”


Andreeva, 17, tops world No. 1 Sabalenka for Indian Wells title

Updated 17 March 2025
Follow

Andreeva, 17, tops world No. 1 Sabalenka for Indian Wells title

  • Andreeva shook off her first set woes and broke Sabalenka three times in the third pushing her 2025 record to 19-3 — the most wins of any woman on the WTA tour

INDIAN WELLS, United States: Russian 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva toppled world number one Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday to capture her second WTA 1000 title at Indian Wells.
Andreeva, who last month become the youngest ever player to win an elite 1000 level crown with her triumph in Dubai, ended a frustrating run against the Belarusian to ensure she will rise to a career-high sixth in the world on Monday.
Andreeva shook off her first set woes and broke Sabalenka three times in the third pushing her 2025 record to 19-3 — the most wins of any woman on the WTA tour.
“I would like to thank myself for fighting to the end,” Andreeva said. “I was running like a rabbit today because Aryna she was sending bullets and it was really hard to keep up.”
In a match of swinging shifts of momentum, Andreeva was in full control by the end, giving herself a match point on Sabalenka’s serve with a defensive lob that forced a miss from the number one and clinching victory with a forehand winner.
“The match point I just really tried to just put the return in, it doesn’t matter how,” she told Tennis Channel. “Then I just saw the ball and I decided I might just go for it.
“And I did,” added Andreeva, who sank to her knees in celebration after her winner landed.
Andreeva claimed her first hard court victory over Sabalenka, who had beaten her twice already this year at Brisbane and the Australian Open.
Sabalenka had powered into the final without dropping a set but it was another disappointment for the Belarusian, who was stunned by Madison Keys in the final at Melbourne to see her bid for a third successive Australian Open title denied.
Unlike in Melbourne where she played “like a joke,” Sabalenka said, this time she let her emotions get the best of her.
“Honestly, was me against me,” she said. “I made a lot of unforced errors on important points, and I just let her play a little bit better ... I was just too pissed with myself, because I think it shouldn’t be the way I finished and I was just pissed with myself.
“I should have just thrown that aggression on that side instead of being too hard on myself.”
Andreeva had Sabalenka under pressure early, and the youngster’s frustration was evident as she was unable to convert four break points in the third game.
Sabalenka took full advantage, breaking the Russian to love for a 3-1 lead and keeping her foot firmly on the accelerator from there.
Sabalenka backed up her power from the baseline with some confident forays to the net, breaking Andreeva to take the opening set in 37 minutes.
“The anger was just boiling inside of me, because I had a lot of opportunities I didn’t convert,” said Andreeva, who wasted another three break points to open the second set.
She finally gained a foothold with a break for 2-1 — pouncing on a Sabalenka second serve to end a run of 18 missed break point chances against the Belarusian this year.
“I was so desperate to win at least one game on her serve ... every time she served I just tried to win one more game and then one more game,” Andreeva said. “Somehow I kind of crawled and came back and we got into the third set like this.”
Andreeva saved a pair of break points to push her lead to 4-2, her winners tally climbing with her confidence.
After missing one chance to take the set on Sabalenka’s serve, Andreeva sealed the set with her first love service game, complete with a pair of aces to close it.
The Russian maintained her momentum as she broke Sabalenka to love to open the third.
Sabalenka promptly broke back, but that proved just a speedbump as Andreeva broke again for 2-1 and didn’t face another break point.


Sabalenka to face teen Andreeva in Indian Wells final

Updated 15 March 2025
Follow

Sabalenka to face teen Andreeva in Indian Wells final

  • The misfiring Keys finally held serve for 5-1 in the second, but minutes later Sabalenka sealed the win

INDIAN WELLS: Aryna Sabalenka avenged her Australian Open loss to Madison Keys, thrashing the American 6-0, 6-1 to book an Indian Wells title showdown with teen sensation Mirra Andreeva.

Red-hot Russian 17-year-old Andreeva showed plenty of poise in a 7-6 (7/1), 1-6, 6-3 victory over defending champion Iga Swiatek, ending the second-ranked Pole’s bid to become the first woman to win three titles in the California desert.

“I was hungry,” said Sabalenka, who had made no bones about wanting revenge after Keys denied her bid for a third straight Australian Open title in January.

“That Australian Open match was really heartbroken for me, and I really needed some time to recover after that.

“And if I would lose today again, it would get in my head and I didn’t want that to happen. I was really focused — I was just really hungry to get this win against Madison.”

Keys, who was riding a 16-match winning streak, couldn’t get a foot in the door.

Sabalenka was untroubled by the cold, swirling wind on Stadium Court as she won the first 11 games.

“I think tactically I played really great tennis,” said Sabalenka, adding her strategy was to “just keep her out of the rhythm.”

The misfiring Keys finally held serve for 5-1 in the second, but minutes later Sabalenka sealed the win and lined up a shot at the WTA tour’s newest sensation Andreeva in what 26-year-old Sabalenka quipped would be “kind of like an old mama playing against a kid.”

Andreeva beat Swiatek for the second time in as many tournaments, having stunned the Polish star in the quarter-finals at Dubai last month on the way to becoming the youngest ever WTA 1000 champion.

Swiatek, who hadn’t dropped a set in winning 10 straight Indian Wells matches, looked supremely confident as she dropped just one point in her first three service games.

But it was Andreeva who claimed the first break of the tense first set for a 5-4 lead.

After Swiatek broke back and they reached the tiebreaker, Andreeva seized control, opening with a blistering backhand winner and pocketing the set on her first opportunity as Swiatek sent a backhand wide.

“I felt like I’m gonna go and play the tiebreak like it’s the last tiebreak of my life,” she said. “So I just went for all my shots. My serve was great. I just felt super comfortable and confident,” she said.

Swiatek put her frustrations aside and broke Andreeva to open the second set, breaking her twice more as the Russian’s errors multiplied under pressure from her opponent.

“The second set, it was a bit weird,” Andreeva said. “I just felt like she literally overplayed me, because she was playing pretty deep with good height over the net. It was really hard to do something with these shots.”

The roles reversed again, however, when Andreeva stepped up her attack and broke Swiatek to open the third, and she sealed the win with her third break of the set.

“I just decided to kind of still play the same but maybe go for my shots more, trying to play a little bit more aggressive,” she said.

“I feel also that I was dealing with the nerves and the pressure pretty good, so I just feel proud of myself.”


Alcaraz blows past Dimitrov into Indian Wells quarters, Keys battles through

Updated 13 March 2025
Follow

Alcaraz blows past Dimitrov into Indian Wells quarters, Keys battles through

  • Britain’s Jack Draper delivered a masterclass to stun 2022 champion Taylor Fritz 7-5, 6-4
  • World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus got past an early hiccup, dropping her serve in the opening game before rolling to a 6-1, 6-2 victory over British lucky loser Sonay Kartal

INDIAN WELLS, California: Two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz blew past Grigor Dimitrov 6-1, 6-1 on Wednesday to reach the Indian Wells quarterfinals, keeping his bid for a rare three-peat on course.

The world No. 3 from Spain defied the difficult windy conditions on Stadium Court to deliver a dominant performance against a player who had won their past two encounters — including in the quarterfinals at the Miami Open last year.

Alcaraz took another step in his bid to join Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as the only men to win three straight Indian Wells titles.

Alcaraz appeared largely untroubled by the gusty winds that had ball kids scampering after blowing trash and changed the trajectories of some shots.

“Today with the conditions, it was really tough for both,” he said. “I had to survive. I always say in these conditions, you have to survive no matter what. I’m very happy that I was able to play long rallies. I got a good rhythm, even with the conditions.”

Alcaraz didn’t face a break point until the fifth game of the second set, and worked his way out of that jam with an ace on Dimitrov’s third break chance.

Alcaraz polished it off in style, giving himself a match point with his sixth ace of the match and sealing the win with a forehand winner.

He will play Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo for a place in the semifinals. Cerundolo beat world No. 10 Alex de Minaur of Australia 7-5, 6-3.

Britain’s Jack Draper delivered a masterclass to stun 2022 champion Taylor Fritz 7-5, 6-4.

Draper won seven straight games to seize a 7-5, 4-0 lead over the world number four. Fritz gave him some tense moments with a late break of serve before Draper served it out on his second opportunity.

“It is the best match I have played here so far in the three years I have been here,” Draper said.

Draper next faces Ben Shelton, who became the only American man in the quarterfinals with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-1 victory over compatriot Brandon Nakashima.

The only US woman in the last eight is Australian Open champion Madison Keys, who battled past Donna Vekic 4-6, 7-6 (9/7), 6-3 to book a meeting with resurgent Belinda Bencic, who ousted third-ranked American Coco Gauff 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

On the back foot early, Keys failed to convert a set point in the 10th game of the second set and was two points from defeat in the tiebreaker when Vekic took a 5-3 lead.

Keys gutted out the breaker and gave herself some breathing room when she broke the Croatian to open the third.

“At some point, I just felt like it was ‘do or die,’ probably five-all in the second-set tiebreaker,” Keys said.

“I kind of just decided that I was going to go for a little bit more, and (I’m) really happy to be able to get that match and get that win and play another match here.”

Bencic also had to rally to reach her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal since becoming a mother last year.

She dominated Gauff to avenge a fourth-round loss to the American at the Australian Open this year.

Bencic, who was unranked when she returned to the tour in October, claimed her ninth career title in Abu Dhabi last month and has risen to 58th in the world.

She said her improving fitness was a factor in her ability to best Gauff in three sets this time, when she couldn’t back in January.

“What changed is that I just kept on working also on the physical side,” Bencic said. “The body is holding up much better, almost like it was before.”

World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus got past an early hiccup, dropping her serve in the opening game before rolling to a 6-1, 6-2 victory over British lucky loser Sonay Kartal.

Sabalenka will next face 24th-ranked Russian Liudmila Samsonova, who surprised world No. 6 Jasmine Paolini of Italy 6-0, 6-4.