ARGUABLY the most anticipated tournament since the Australian Open, the 2020 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships are choc-a-block full of big names and Grand Slam winners from the WTA Tour. Most of the top 10 are in appearance despite Ash Barty and Bianca Andreescu unfortunately withdrawing from the tournament. Three of the four Australian Open semi-finalists are here, as well as the remaining top six players, and a host of up-and-coming young guns ready to make their mark this year. The story of the tournament may well be the return of Belgian Grand Slam winner, Kim Clijsters who comes back to the WTA Tour at 36-years-old.

FAVOURITE:

Simona Halep (ROU)

In such a strong field it is hard to pick a favourite, but we have opted for the Romanian world number two who will be seeded one with Barty’s withdrawal. Halep is a proven performer at the top level and will be disappointed after a couple of near misses at Melbourne Park – losing in the final last year and then the semi-final to Garbine Muguruza just a few weeks ago. Last year the Romanian reached the quarter finals before bowing out to Swiss talent and eventual winner, Belinda Bencic. Halep showed some great signs throughout her run at Melbourne Park and was just halted by an impressive Muguruza. Well rested and ready to go again, expect her to be fresh having opted to sit out the Fed Cup and focus on the Dubai tournament.

CONTENDERS:

Garbine Muguruza (ESP)

Back in vogue after her run to the Australian Open final, there is little doubt that the 26-year-old’s best is good enough. She is a two-time Grand Slam winner after all, and if she can build on her Melbourne Park form here, she is a massive chance. Having been seeded 12th here a year ago, Muguruza reached the Round of 16 before being bundled out in a disappointing 6-1 6-2 loss to Elena Svitolina. She is in much better form this time around and like Halep, is fresh off the Australian Open having not played in the Fed Cup. Given her surprising run at Melbourne Park, it will be fascinating to see if she can replicate the form in Dubai.

Sofia Kenin (USA)

The latest addition to the WTA Tour Grand Slam winners board, Kenin is a rising talent who has well and truly arrived by now. She is still only 21-years-old and peaked in January with her run to the title. She was able to see off Barty and Muguruza who were both in terrific form, but now she faces the challenge of being the hunted rather than the hunter. Plenty of players have won Grand Slams at a young age, then been okay without taking the next step to really consolidate themselves as a multiple Grand Slam winner. The test for Kenin will be how she goes in the tournament immediately after her Grand Slam win. Unlike the above two, Kenin did play in the Fed Cup, with mixed results – one win, one loss – against Latvia.

Karolina Pliskova (CZE)

Slipping down to third in the world after she was unable to defend her semi-finals appearance points at Melbourne Park from the year before, Pliskova will be keen to go well here having reached a quarter final in Dubai 12 months ago. She was stunned by Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Su-Wei back then and will be wary of a stacked field this year, but can never be discounted. She had a disappointing run at the Australian Open with a third round exit, but has to recover from that to take on the world’s best. With those just below her – such as Bencic and Svitolina working in overdrive with tournaments to try and make up points and catch her, the Czech has to make her limited tournaments count.

ROUGHIES:

Elina Svitolina (UKR)

Depending on how far Svitolina goes in her current tournament at Hua Hin, the Ukrainian world number four could drop back to sixth and sit as third seed here. She will not have to defend points for a little while, given the uneven scheduling this season compared to last, with her semi-finals appearance at Doha impacting her WTA Tour ranking – and her semi-finals appearance here also set to cost her if she cannot reach the final four at least. She lost in a three-set tight tiebreaker to eventual winner Bencic in 2019, so has the ability to go deep on the hardcourts here. Her Australian Open exit was terrible, smashed by Muguruza 6-1 6-2, while her loss to Anett Kontaveit at the Fed Cup was not overly inspiring. However she is enjoying a good run in Thailand and should go deep if not win there, so will come in here with form.

Belinda Bencic (SUI)

The 22-year-old Swiss is likely to be the third seed heading into the tournament, having risen to number four on the live rankings. She can be inconsistent at times – her loss at the Australian Open can attest to that – but she is getting plenty of matches in since her Melbourne Park third round exit where she bowed out winning just one game against Kontaveit. In the Fed Cup she had a mixed weekend with one win and a shock loss to Canadian teen, Leyla Fernandez but is building form at St Petersburg as the top seed there. The reigning champion here has a full 900 points to defend, so her bolstered ranking could see her slip down again if she cannot repeat the effort.

Aryna Sabalenka (BLR)

Genuinely looks like one of the next Grand Slam winners but is yet to produce her best consistently, the Belarusian only reached the Round of 16 here 12 months ago. She will not have the same points pressure on her as others and could benefit from others around her dropping down, with a gap to the top 11 players and Sabalenka ranked 13th. Her shotmaking and X-factor are really impressive, and at 21-years-old could make the jump that Bencic made last year, and along with Kenin is just as likely to bolt up into the top five by year’s end. She only lost to Bencic 9-7 in a third set tiebreaker in last year’s tournament so was not far off the pace of the eventual winner.

DARK HORSE:

Dayana Yastremska

With such a talented field, it was so difficult to pick out one player who could make the jump and challenge those ranked well above her in 2020. Yastremska seems one of a number of young guns who are ready to make the next step into the top 20, ranked 26th in the world with three titles to her name. The Ukrainian reached a career-high 21st prior to the Australian Open, but fell to 2018 winner Caroline Wozniacki in the second round. The teenager bowed out in the first round last year, falling to Muguruza, but she made it all the way to the Adelaide final earlier this year, and won her Fed Cup match – albeit against 553rd ranked Estonian, Elena Malygina – in her only competitive hitout since the Australian Open.