The path to the title at this year’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships is set.
The official draw for the WTA 1000 event was made on Saturday, placing world No 3 Elena Rybakina in the same half as Coco Gauff, Elina Svitolina and Emma Raducanu.
The 26th edition of the women’s tournament runs from February 15 to 24 at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium, which has undergone further upgrades ahead of the event.
Six Grand Slam singles champions are in the field, holding nine major titles between them. Sixteen of the world’s top 20 players are competing in Dubai this week.
Rybakina, who won the Australian Open earlier this season, is the top seed and receives a first-round bye. She could face Germany’s Tatjana Maria in her opening match.
In the same half, third seed Gauff, seventh seed Svitolina and 2017 French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko are among the contenders. Raducanu is also in that section of the draw, as is rising Filipino talent Alexandra Eala.
Eala meets American lucky loser Hailey Baptiste for a place in the second round, where 2024 Dubai champion Jasmine Paolini awaits. The 18-year-old is scheduled to play on Centre Court on Sunday evening and is expected to attract strong support from Dubai’s Filipino community.
Leylah Fernandez, the Canadian of Filipino descent, will also feature on Centre Court when she plays 13th seed Liudmila Samsonova.
On the opposite side of the draw, second seed Amanda Anisimova could face former champion Barbora Krejcikova in the round of 32 if results go as seeded. Mirra Andreeva, the youngest WTA 1000 champion, and world No 6 Jessica Pegula are also in that half.
Maria Sakkari, fresh from a semi-final run in Doha, opens against 16th seed Iva Jovic. For Jovic, 18, it marks her first appearance in the Middle East.
Tournament organisers confirmed further stadium improvements, including a new 2,000-seat Court One. Work will continue after the event to expand Centre Court capacity to 7,500.
Four wildcards were announced during the draw ceremony: Zeynep Sonmez, Sara Bejlek, Lulu Sun and Janice Tjen. Sonmez and Bejlek will meet in the opening round.
The women’s event will be followed by the ATP 500 men’s tournament later in the month. Tickets for the championships start from Dh65.
