Middle East’s oldest women’s tennis tournament, Al Habtoor Challenge, set to turn 18

DUBAI // Alexandra Panova will be out for revenge when she meets Nadiia Kichenok in the opening round of this year’s Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge.

Kichenok eliminated Panova at the quarter-final stage last year, rallying from a set down to win 6-7, 6-3, 6-3, and the Russian world No 135 said she cannot wait to get even.

“This is a rematch and I am looking forward to getting my revenge,” Panova, the No 3 seed, said. “This is the only match I am looking towards. If I win this one, then I will look beyond. We just have to play every match.

“This time I am here to win. This tournament always has a high calibre of players and you never know who is out there trying to win. This has been a great tournament and it’s always so nice to come back to Dubai.

“The environment is absolutely great here. Its sunny, it’s friendly, so it’s very enjoyable and you don’t need much motivation to come here.”

Romania’s Alexandra Dulgheru, the world No 57 and defending champion, is the top seed and is due to open her defence against Italy’s Martina Caregaro. However, she is still in Romania awaiting immigration clearance to board a flight to Dubai.

According to tournament organisers, Dulgheru has been travelling with a temporary passport since the middle of the year and while Romanian citizens can get a visa on arrival here, rules stipulate the entry permit cannot be stamped on a temporary passport. The organisers said they are still trying to resolve the issue.

If Dulgheru fails to make it in time for the tournament, second-seed Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic will become the top seed.

Koukalova, the world No 107, would, however, prefer keeping her place in the lower half of the draw, which includes three wild cards and three qualifiers, and she is scheduled to face one of them in the opening round.

Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge, the first women’s tennis tournament in the Middle East when it started in 1998, has seen some of the best competitors from the ATP Tour compete in the past, such as Simona Halep, Marion Bartoli and Jelena Jankovic. But organisers are hoping to bring the tournament forward by two weeks to attract even higher ranked players next year.

“One of the things Mr Habtoor is trying to do is to bring the tournament forward by two weeks and make this the last tournament on the tour before the WTA Championship,” said Hany El Khafif, the International Tennis Federation supervisor who conducted the draws yesterday in the presence of the first Al Habtoor champion and now tournament director Kyra Nagy.

“This will help us in grabbing players before they go into the winter break. Bringing the tournament forward by two weeks will make the tournament even more attractive to the players.

“We would love to bring higher ranked players and have tough tennis matches, because this is what people love to watch.”

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