Ana Ivanovic relieved to pass Sabine Lisicki test at Dubai Tennis Championships

Former world No 1 Ana Ivanovic destroyed Sabine Lisicki of Germany 6-0, 6-3 to advance to the third round of the Dubai Duty Free Championships where she will meet the Czech Karolina Pliskova.

Despite the comfortable nature of the win, Ivanovic revealed she still had doubts coming into the match.

“It was very hard going into the match knowing she already had a match and it was the first match for me in a month,” she said. “I also didn’t know how I was going to feel out there. I tried to focus on my game and what I had to do out there. I was pleased to use the opportunities early on, and that kind of set the tone for the match.”

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The World No 5 simply blew her opponent off the court in the first set, cruising to a 6-0 lead in less than 30 minutes.

Throughout a match played in 32C heat, the 28th-ranked German had no answer to Ivanovic’s aggressive net play and superb forehand. Lisicki, who had hit 16 aces in her first match, couldn’t muster a single one in her second.

“I really felt like she did struggle a little bit with her serve. She made quite a lot of double faults,” Ivanovic said. “I tried to be aggressive, and probably she had that in her mind, because even when she was putting in a first serve I felt like I was handling it quite well and I was very aggressive on her second serve. So I think that kind of put pressure for her to go for more.”

The Serb started the second set in similar fashion to take a 2-0 lead, with Lisicki finally getting on the scoreboard in the ninth game of the match. The renaissance proved short-lived as Ivanovic overcame two break points to win the next match and lead 3-1, and then 5-1.

Lisicki put up a spirited fightback to win the next two games, saving a match point in the process, but Ivanovic broke her serve again in the ninth game of the match to close out the match.

A smiling Ivanovic said the afternoon heat had not had too much of a negative effect on her.

“It was hot, but it’s a dry heat so it’s actually better,” she said. “You know, I was spending time in the cold so it was a nice change. I took some time to get used to it. I struggled the first few days, but today I was fine.”

yallacompare profile

Date of launch: 2014

Founder: Jon Richards, founder and chief executive; Samer Chebab, co-founder and chief operating officer, and Jonathan Rawlings, co-founder and chief financial officer

Based: Media City, Dubai

Sector: Financial services

Size: 120 employees

Investors: 2014: $500,000 in a seed round led by Mulverhill Associates; 2015: $3m in Series A funding led by STC Ventures (managed by Iris Capital), Wamda and Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority; 2019: $8m in Series B funding with the same investors as Series A along with Precinct Partners, Saned and Argo Ventures (the VC arm of multinational insurer Argo Group)

The specs: 2018 Maserati GranTurismo/GranCabrio

Price, base Dh485,000 (GranTurismo) and Dh575,000 (GranCabrio)

Engine 4.7L V8

Transmission Six-speed automatic

Power 460hp @ 7,000rpm

Torque 520Nm @ 4,750rpm

Fuel economy, combined 14.3L (GranTurismo) and 14.5L (GranCabrio) / 100km

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Airev

Started: September 2023

Founder: Muhammad Khalid

Based: Abu Dhabi

Sector: Generative AI

Initial investment: Undisclosed

Investment stage: Series A

Investors: Core42

Current number of staff: 47