The WTA Middle East swing is going to conclude next week with second back-to-back WTA 100 event, this time held in Dubai. The main draw got revealed today and it already promises some interesting action from the start of round one. There are 56 spots filled in a draw, with top 8 seeds getting bye in opening round. Despite having a free run to round of 32, most of the top ranked players have some challenging hurdles to pass in their sights.
Challenges and revenges wait for top seeds
Aryna Sabalenka can get a chance to make a revenge on Ekaterina Alexandrova, for the shocking, but deserved upset from this year's tournament in Doha. The semifinalist of Qatar Open needs to overcome her compatriot Veronika Kudermetova in first round to make it happen.
Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina might need to handle with the finalists from Doha, assuming that both Amanda Anisimova and Jelena Ostapenko will not pull out from the event, and win their kick-off matches in Dubai. Gauff will have quite a task to bounce back after failed Doha campaign, playing against Anisimova or another American - Mccartney Kessler. 6th seed Rybakina can face Ostapenko in a hit clash of second round, if the Latvian wins over the qualifier Moyuka Uchijima.
Big names coming back
Belinda Bencic comes back to action after winning the WTA 500 Abu Dhabi Open. The Swiss meets another Japanese qualifier - Aoi Ito, and 8th seed Emma Navarro waits for the winner of this pairing. Another winner from first week of February also comes back on court - Anastasia Potapova will set up an interesting clash against 13th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia in first round. The other notable comebacks are 14th seed Karolina Muchova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who missed Doha due to injuries.
Paolini looks for the title and points defence
Jasmine Paolini faces the challenge, which is unpreceeded in her career so far. The Italian was a sensational winner here in Dubai last year, which put the fuel on her superb run during whole the 2024 season. Paolini has a difficul task of defending 1000 points in the rankings. Her season so far is not perfect, but the draw looks quite formidable for her. Paolini will meet one of the qualifiers in the opening round - Irina Camelia Begu, or Eva Lys, while the highest seed on her road to potential quarterfinals is 16th Donna Vekic.
Iga Swiatek will try to bounce back after a tough loss in Qatar Open semifinals, starting from the match against Victoria Azarenka, or Anhelina Kalinina. Qinwen Zheng is another bye in the last quarter of the draw. The Chinese, who has a slow start of the season interrupted by the elbow injury, can set up another potential revenge match of second round, playing against Ons Jabeur - if the Tunisian wins over Peyton Stearns.
The tournament starts on Sunday, with first round being expected to end up on Monday. Let's follow TennisRatio.com updates and analysis from Dubai throughout whole the next week.
