Dubai:
Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania and Klara Koukalova from the Czech Republic are most likely going to be the top two seeds in the fray as the 18th Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge (AHTC) got under way with the qualifying rounds from Friday.
The main draw of the competition is scheduled to start from Monday and the final will be played on November 14.
Currently ranked No 58 on the WTA Rankings, Dulgheru had achieved a career high singles ranking of No 26 in April 2011. Dulgheru did well in 2010 while making it to the third rounds of the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.
Winner of three WTA titles, Koukalova is presently ranked No 67. Now 33, Koukalova made her Grand Slam debut at the 2003 Australian Open in style, defeating fellow qualifier and Grand Slam debutante Maria Sharapova in the first round before going on to upset sixth-seed Monica Seles in the second round.
The AHTC, founded by Al Habtoor Group Chairman Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, will take place at the tennis courts of Habtoor Grand Beach Resort and Spa.
When registration closed at noon on Friday, more than 200 players had registered for this year’s tournament. “We had no choice but have a qualifying round of 32 players. This year the demand has been unusually big and we are more than ready to stage yet another successful tournament,” ITF official Hani Al Khafief told Gulf News.
The qualifying rounds will bring forward four qualifiers who will join another four wild card entrants in the main draw of the competition.
The AHTC has kicked-started several famous tennis players’ careers, including former world number one Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and current world number two Simona Halep of Romania. Previous famous participants include Maria Kirilenko, a former top-10 player and three-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist French girl Marion Bartoli, who went on to win a lone Wimbledon crown in 2013.
The tournament, launched in 1998 to encourage the development of women’s tennis in the UAE, was the first-ever professional women’s tennis event in the Middle East.