Karolina Pliskova.
Karolina Pliskova.

Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships: Order of play, Day 2



CENTRE COURT

Starting at 2pm:

Elina Svitolina (UKR) v (Q) Jana Cepelova (SVK)

Ana Ivanovic (SRB) v Daria Gavrilova (AUS)

Not before 7pm:

Jelena Jankovic (SRB) v Belinda Bencic (SUI) [5]

Roberta Vinci (ITA) [7] v (Q) Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ)

Read more: Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships: The National's full coverage

COURT 1

Starting at 2pm:

Barbora Strycova (CZE) v (Q) Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL)

Petra Kvitova (CZE) and Alicja Rosolska (POL) v Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER) and CoCo Vandeweghe (USA)

Not before 5pm:

(Q) Saisai Zheng v Sara Errani (ITA)

Raquel Atawo (USA) and Abigail Spears (USA) v Caroline Garcia (FRA) and Kristina Mladenovic (FRA [2]

COURT 3

Starting at 2pm:

Vera Dushevina (RUS) and Katerina Siniakova (CZE) v Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN) and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez

Andrea Hlavackova (CZE) and Lucie Hradecka (CZE) [3] v Andreja Klepac (SLO) and Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)

Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE) and Darija Jurak (CRO) v Chen Liang (CHN) and Yafan Wang (CHN)

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MATCH OF THE DAY: Jelena Jankovic v Belinda Bencic

Not just the match of the day, but arguably the match of the first round. Jankovic, a former world No 1, faces the highly-rated Swiss Bencic in the first match of Tuesday's evening session on Centre Court. Bencic, the world No 9 and fifth seed in Dubai, is the form player of the two and has begun 2016 impressively.

Meanwhile, world No 20 Jankovic has won just two matches this season, but to dismiss the Serbian would be risky. Dubai resident Jankovic regards this as her “home” tournament, and is well rested having not played since the Fed Cup earlier this month.

Bencic, on the other hand, has arrived straight from Russia and the St Petersburg Open where she was a losing finalist. Bencic leads their head-to-head 2-1, although when they met last year on the hardcourts of Indian Wells, Jankovic was the victor. Bencic is the slight favourite but write off Jankovic at your peril.

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Three tips from La Perle's performers

1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.

2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.

3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.

The specs

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Power: 540hp at 6,500rpm

Torque: 600Nm at 2,500rpm

Transmission: Eight-speed auto

Kerb weight: 1580kg

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On sale: via special order

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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding

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