A HUGE opening Round of 32 saw a number of upsets occur in the first WTA Premier event of February. The Dubai Tennis Championships welcomed back a familiar face in Kim Clijsters, with the Grand Slam winner returning to the WTA Tour circuit for the second time. While she ultimately ran into Australian Open runner-up Garbine Muguruza in the first round and went down 6-2 7-6, it showed she could be building towards bigger and better things in the future.

Across the day there were a number of surprising results, but red-hot Tunisian, Ons Jabeur continues to spike up the rankings after her quarter finals appearance at Melbourne Park last month. In her first match since the loss to eventual winner Sofia Kenin, the Tunisian downed Australian Open semi-finalists, Alison Riske in three sets. Winning the first set in a tiebreaker before falling away in the second, the now 45th ranked Jabeur regained control against the top 20 American, winning 7-6 1-6 6-3. The match lasted two hours and 12 minutes, with Riske having won their only previous meeting back in Miami, 2018 in straight sets. It would be different on this occasion though as Jabeur would win 80 per cent of her first serve points, and save eight of 11 break point opportunities. She would only break the twice, but the Tunisian found a way to win. Heading into the Round of 16 she faces number one seed and tournament favourite, Simona Halep and will want to improve her 47.4 per cent serving efficiency.

In other results, Belgian Elise Mertens downed China’s Wang Qiang 6-3 6-0 in just 62 minutes after the Chinese talent won just one point on return in the second set, and nine points overall on her way to a one-sided belting. Also joining Mertens in the Round of 16 are a couple of Czechs, with Barbora Strycova downing American 21-year-old Amanda Anisimova 7-6 2-6 6-4, while Marketa Vondrousova knocked out Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova – the player who defeated Serena Williams at the Fed Cup recently – 6-3 6-2. It continued Sevastova’s disappointing run of form in 2020, with first round exits at all four tournaments, and the win over Williams being her only triumph thus far.

There are a number of massive clashes not to be missed to conclude the Round of 32, with fourth seed Swiss star, Belinda Bencic taking on one of the Australian Open bolters in Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia. Fifth seed and Australian Open winner, Kenin will take on three-time finalist already in 2020, Elena Rybakina, while Greece’s Maria Sakkari – coming off a semi-final loss to Rybakina in St Petersburg – and 13th ranked Aryna Sabalenka will be the battle of the young stars.

Round of 32:

[9] G. Muguruza (ESP) defeated [WC] K. Clijsters (BEL) 6-2 7-6
M. Vondrousova (CZE) defeated A. Sevastova (LAT) 6-3 6-2
O. Jabeur (TUN) defeated A. Riske (USA) 7-6 1-6 6-3
B. Strycova (CZE) defeated A. Anisimova (USA) 7-6 2-6 6-4
E. Mertens (BEL) defeated Q. Wang (CHN) 6-3 6-0