Even by this tournament's standards, the field assembled at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships this week is something special. Eighteen of the world's top 20 were part of the lineup at the start of the week and the two missing would almost certainly have been involved under different circumstances; Tunisian star Ons Jabeur recovering from injury while two-time champion Simona Halep is serving a provisional doping ban.
But even among this fiercely competitive field, two players stand above the rest: one the undisputed best player in the world, the other the undisputed best player of the year - and both got their campaigns underway at the second-round stage on Tuesday.
First it was the turn of Aryna Sabalenka, the world No 2 fresh from a 23-day rest and recuperation period following her Grand Slam breakthrough at the Australian Open. Could more than three weeks away from competitive action have an adverse effect and halt the momentum of her perfect start to the season?
The answer was, quite emphatically, no. The Belarusian second seed needed just 59 minutes to wrap up the win against Lauren Davis, cruising to a 6-0, 6-1 victory and stretching her winning run in 2023 to 12 matches. Sabalenka will next be involved in arguably the tie of the third round against defending champion Jelena Ostapenko.
"You know, these 23 days felt a little bit different because after winning such a big tournament, I needed these few days off," Sabalenka, 24, said. "Then I start practicing again, so it didn't feel like 23 days.
"I worked hard, I worked a lot. The rest of the players were playing tournaments, so I had to be really ready for the first match. I'm super happy with the win."
Not to be outdone, and in the latest reminder of why she is the best player on the planet, Iga Swiatek laid down her own marker with a 6-1, 6-1 cruise past 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez.
While Sabalenka was blazing through the Australian summer with a title in Adelaide and the big one in Melbourne, Swiatek had a comparatively subdued start to the year, at least by her 2022 standards.
But the player who won eight titles last year, including two Grand Slams, roared back to form in Doha last week, clinching the Qatar Open trophy for the loss of just five games in three matches.
And it was that level that was on display in Dubai on Tuesday, cementing Swiatek, as usual, as the player to beat this week. The 21-year-old Pole will next face the in-form Russian 14th seed Liudmila Samsonova, who was narrowly beaten in the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open final earlier this month.
The third-best player in the field, and indeed the world at present, also made her way into the third round but Jessica Pegula's outing was a tad more challenging.
The American looked in cruise control when she took the first set against Viktoriya Tomova, but the Bulgarian world No 99 fought back to take the second and send the match into a decider. Pegula, beaten by Swiatek in the Doha final on Saturday, quickly regrouped to seal the win 6-2, 5-7, 6-1.
"It was definitely a roller coaster kind of match," Pegula, 28, said. "Just happy that I was able to find my form from the beginning in the third [set], just win the match."
The top three safely through, but not so for the next highest-ranked player. Like the rest of the top eight seeds, Caroline Garcia received a bye into the second round, but awaiting the French fourth seed was one of the last players she would have wanted to face.
Madison Keys had beaten Garcia in their past three meetings, all in straight sets, and the American was at it again in Dubai, claiming a 7-5, 6-4 victory to set up an enthralling third-round tie with Victoria Azarenka.
Sixth seed Maria Sakkari was also sent packing, by the one unseeded player everyone will be keen to avoid. Karolina Pliskova, a former world No 1 currently ranked 18th, outclassed Sakkari 6-1, 6-2 to deliver a statement victory and her own warning that Swiatek and Sabalenka are not the only contenders in this tournament.
