The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships is set for a star-studded week of world-class action following the Official Draw for the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 1000 event, which takes place at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium from 19-25 February.
With 64 players in the draw, including 17 of the world’s Top-20 ranked players, the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships field includes five Grand Slam winners boasting a collective 10 Grand Slam titles between them. The draw’s top eight seeds, who all feature in the world’s Top-10 ranked players, have received first round byes.
To reach the final in arguably the tougher side of the draw, top-seed Iga Swiatek, the reigning French and US Open champion, must emerge from a star-studded crop of players featuring France’s Caroline Garcia (seeded 4); the USA’s Coco Gauff (5); Greece’s Maria Sakkari (6); Kazakhstan’s reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina (9) – who lost the Dubai final in 2020; last year’s defeated Dubai finalist Veronika Kudermetova (10); Liudmila Samsonova (14); and Belarus’ two-time Australian Open winner Victoria Azarenka (15).
Fresh from claiming her first Grand Slam title in January’s Australian Open, Belarusian No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka occupies a side of the draw that includes the USA’s Jessica Pegula (3); 2018 Dubai finalist Daria Kasatkina (7); Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic (8) – the Dubai winner in 2019; Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia (11); two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova (12) of the Czech Republic – who last triumphed in Dubai a decade ago; the tournament’s defending champion and 2017 French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko (13) of Latvia; and Ekaterina Alexandrova (16).
