Dubai Tennis Championship draw produces exciting match-ups

Kenny Laurie 18:54 15/02/2014
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  • Main attraction: Serena Williams is a late addition to the line-up.

    The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships threw up a host of mouth-watering first round clashes on Saturday, with legendary sisters Serena and Venus Williams the star attractions.

    As world No1, Serena is given a bye through to the second round where she will come up against either Alisa Kleybanova or recent Pattaya winner Ekaterina Makarova, while Venus faces Elena Vesnina with either Ana Ivanovic or Angelique Kerber lying in wait in the second round.

    Former world No1 Caroline Wozniacki has been in the region for nearly a month and she will be hoping the extra time spent acclimatising to Dubai will give her the edge when she faces last year’s Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki in arguably the most anticipated tie of the first round.

    Serena isn’t the only one with a bye into the next round. Reigning champion Petra Kvitova is already through awaiting the winner of Carla Suarez Navarro and Nadia Petrova while Sara Errani and Agnieszka Radwanska also go straight into the second round.

    The final has already sold out and tickets are said to have jumped by “30-40%” since Serena Williams was announced as a wildcard.

    Organiser and vice-chairman of Dubai Duty Colm McLoughlin believes the arrival of the 17-time Grand Slam champion has helped keep the tournament in the spotlight.

    “Serena is No1 and we all know what a record she has,” the Irishman told Sport360. “I think it’s fantastic for the tournament. And it brings up the entry when seven of the top 10 ladies entered and 15 of the top 20, that’s unique.

    “What we want to do each year is make sure there is a good entry, to make the spectators number goes up and to make sure around our side that people have a nice time and think of it as a good sporting event.

    “The better the attendance then the better the players, the better the media coverage and the more prestige. In the case of the men’s, nine out of the last 10 years, the men have voted this the top-500 Series tournament in the world. It would be nice if they did that again this year."

    McLoughlin revealed how Serena's withdrawal from the Qatar Total Open was the reason for her last-minute addition to the Dubai line-up.

    “Serena had planned to play in Doha but pulled out and she called us and said that she’d love to play here which of course made us very happy," he added. "The entry had been closed at that point so we gave her a wildcard and it’s great if you can give the World No1 a wildcard.”

    FULL FIRST ROUND DRAW

    – Serena Williams (1) vs BYE
    – Alisa Kleybanova vs  Ekaterina Makarova
    – Sloane Stephens vs Lucie Safarova
    – Qualifier vs Jelena Jankovic (5)
    – Petra Kvitova (3) vs BYE
    – Carla Suarez-Navarro vs Nadia Petrova (WC)
    – Kirsten Flipkens vs Qualifier
    – Alize Cornet vs Simona Haelp (7)
    – Caroline Wozniacki (8) vs Sabine Lisicki
    – Samantha Stosur vs Qualifier 
    – Sorana Cirstea vs Roberta Vinci
    – BYE vs Sara Errani (4)
    – Angelique Kerber (6) vs Ana Ivanovic
    – Venus Williams (WC) vs Elena Vesnina RUS 29
    – Kaia Kanepi vs Qualifier
    – BYE vs Agnieszka Radwanska (2)

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