Dubai: 2023 finalists set to return for 27th Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge The field that has included last year’s finalists is quite robust and it is expected that they will be back at next month’s 27th Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge to be held at the Al Habtoor Grand Resort from December 2-8.
Anastasia Tikhonova last year, in her pursuit of the singles title, had no trouble defeating Arianne Hartono from The Netherlands in straight sets. And so both players are now somewhere in the world keeping their promise made after the final, to qualify early on the Acceptance List after this week’s entry deadline of this ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour event.
As much as the players can, they will have till November 19 (Tuesday) to withdraw from the competition.
As things stand with their current WTA Rankings, the two finalists from 2023 might not have to be able to take the correct path to the singles competition this year.
With a current WTA ranking of 147, Hartono will be directly accepted into the main draw whilst Russia’s defending champion, who is currently ranked 187 will have to possibly fight her way through the qualifying rounds.
Everything looks normal and the field again looks pretty strong with the main draw officers’ seating positions going to the top-11 ranked players between 101 to 147.
Tatjana Maria of Germany is seeded no 1 with a ranking of 101 followed by Kimberly Birrell of Australia ranked No. 115 and Polina Kudermetova ranked No. 117. The other Australian, Daria Saville, so far ranked fourth (No. 120), will serve as the second Australian seed. Latvia’s Darja Semenistaja, who is the fifth seed, is currently ranked 121.
The squad was increased, when several former top players also entered to play, starting with the multiple doubles Grand Slam winner Kristina Mladenovic, who was joined by Ekaterian Makarova and American Hanna Chang.
Living in Dubai for the last couple of years, Mladenovic is another player who will add strength to this field. Uh, Mladenovic, who was ranked No. 1 in the world in doubles, peaked at No 10 in singles.
This 31-year-old Frenchwoman is a 9-time Grand Slam champion, winning the 2016, 2020 and 2022 French Open women’s doubles and the 2018 and 2020 Australian Open.
Among the stars in 2024, Mladenovic returned to this WTA competition to help Zhang Shuai win their third women’s doubles final in her Brooklyn’s Flushing Meadows. The final was won by Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko.
Mladenovic, partnered with Veronika Erjavec, reached the 2024 WTA 125 doubles finals twilight, won the tournament and defeated Tara Wurth and Katarina Zavatska.
From being a $25,000 (AED 91,250) tournament known as a $75,000 event from 1999 to 2015, the Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge started off modestly. This was in 2016 when the ITF Women’s Circuit introduced it as a tournament with a minimum prize amount of US$100,000.
Founded by Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, who is the Founding Chairman of the Al Habtoor Group, the tournament has all along, done what it was initiated for, that is, furthering the growth of the sport of women tennis in the UAE and the region, while simultaneously enhancing the visibility of the sport in the Arab world.
Last among the long list of past champions are Grand Slam champions and top players such as Sorana Cirstea (2020), Ana Bogdan (2019), Peng Shuai (2018), Belinda Bencic (2017), Kimiko Date-Krumm (2012), Sania Mirza (2010), Maria Kirilenko (2007), Kateryna Bondarenko (2006), Marion Bartoli (2005), Jelena Jankovic (2003) and the first winner Kyra Nagy (1998).
Over the next two weeks, the period during which the 9th Al Habtoor Tennis Cup is scheduled to take place, the administrators are also setting up the other amenities to accommodate the participants at the tennis courts of the Habtoor Grand Resort and Conference Centre which was opened in Dubai in 2007.
The competition is set to commence on November 22 (Friday) and will run through the rest of the championship’s fixtures which includes a final set for December 8 which follows the 27th Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge on December 7.
The categories included this time are junior boys and girls aged 12, 14, 16 and 18, besides the Men’s Open, Women’s Open and Masters (34 years and above).
According to Laith Al Ani, who will be heading the organizers, a competition for local players is the theme which they wish to achieve in the tournament.
“So far, we expect around 250-280 entries, composed of local players and residents. This tournament is so far the biggest of the events in the UAE Tennis Federation ranking series which we are more than glad to be in support of the game’s development here” Al Ani said.