Yesterday, the Dubai Duty Free Women's Tennis Championship recorded surprises of great caliber, most notably the defending champion's exit and ranked fourth in the world, Swiss Belinda Benciche from the first round, after losing to Anastasia Pavlychenko (31 in the world), by two groups versus one group (6-1) , 1-6, and 1-6).
The Swiss made only 92 minutes during its match, to lose the opportunity to defend its title against Russian Pavleshenkova, despite the strong start to Belinda Peniche, who settled the first group in her favor in 25 minutes and with a result (6-1), before the Russian rose up and settled the second and third groups with the same result ( 6-1).
The first surprises were, the farewell to the former world number one and Belgian tennis legend Kim Clijsters (36 years old), who participated in the championship with an invitation card, and lost to the Spanish seeder Garbin Moguruza in two unanswered groups (2-6, 6-7), the day before yesterday. , At the opening of the 20th edition of the tournament. Clijsters said, in a press statement, that the participation brought back to her the identity of the heroine who has been in the world rankings for more than 30 weeks, and won the titles of 41 world championships, including four major championships.
"The organizing committee sent an invitation card to me to participate, like the opportunity for me to regain part of my identity, especially in the second group against Moguruza, which witnessed a great improvement in my performance, which reminded me of what I was achieving in the major championships, compared to the first group, Moguruza was the best performing," Clijsters said. And it appeared during which she was completely curious about tennis, because it was the first time after an eight-year hiatus since I retired from play in early 2012, that I was not interested in raising children. ” She added: "My participation was not primarily to win, but to restore the sensitivity of the matches and stay away from injuries, which I achieved after a first group that was difficult for me to adapt on the ground of Dubai stadiums, which I am running my first experience on." "The decision to return to the competition had to be accompanied by and not placing high hopes on the first matches, regardless of the identity of the players I will meet, and from here came the choice of Dubai as the first stop on the way back, due to several technical matters, whether in terms of fast floors, or The strength of the forum in which the elite players.
Brady ends the adventure of the 2017 and 2018 champion
American Jennifer Brady, ranked 52 globally, recorded the biggest surprises of the first round, by defeating world number six and Dubai tennis champion Elena Svetolina in two sets without response (6-2, 6-1), in the match they gathered on Dubai Duty Free hosted the President’s Stadium, at the opening of matches for the second day of this round.
Tennis legend Clijsters: My first participation in Dubai after an 8-year retirement was to restore match sensitivity and not to win.
The former world number one, Belgian Clijsters (36 years old) participated in an invitation card.