Kuznetsova may end up with Dubai wildcard

Dubai: Former world No 2 and two-time Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova, of Russia, may end up with a wildcard entry at this year’s Dubai Duty Free Women’s Open, which gets under way at the Dubai Tennis Stadium later this week.

“The cut-off point [for entries] in the women’s singles main draw is as low as No. 31. So consequently, we are going to have to put up with the fact that we may not get to watch some of our stars this time,” Tournament Director Salah Tahlak told Gulf News.

“Such is the fierce competition to get in here that some of the top players from yesteryear are even willing to accept wildcard entries,” he added.

This year’s women’s tournament has attracted seven of the top ten player, with the entry cut-off set at No.31 following the confirmation of fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Besides the top-ranked Victoria Azarenka and No.2 Serena Williams, Poland’s Agnieska Radwanska, who is currently the World No.4, will be back to defend the title she won here last year. Also included as early confirmations are Germany’s Angelique Kerber (No.6); Italian Sara Errani (No.7); Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova (No.8) and Australian Samantha Stosur (No.9) completing the top-ten in the women’s competition.

Kuznetsova’s latest ranking on the WTA singles is a distant No.51 despite the fact that the Russian has won two Grand Slam titles – the 2004 US Openand the 2009 French Open.

The 27-year-old has also appeared in seven doubles finals at the Grand Slams, winning two of them. She has qualified to the year-end WTA Tour Championships on five occasions, but has so far failed to qualify for the semi-finals.

Kuznetsova’s best result in Dubai was in the doubles in 2003 when she teamed up with the legendary Martina Navratilova to claim the crown.

The Russian has begun this season in fine form, using the qualifying rounds to make it to the main draw at the 2013 Apia International in Sydney last month. In the second round, Kuznetsova upset former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki in three sets to bag her first win in a main draw of any tournament since the 2012 French Open.

Kuznetsova entered the Australian Open unseeded, but was able to reach the quarter-finals after defeating Wozniacki for the second time so far this season. However, she lost in the quarter-finals to World No. 1 defending and eventual Victoria Azarenka in two sets.

The two-week tennis extravaganza will start with the qualifying rounds for women from 10.30am on February 16 and 17 followed by the start of the main draw on February 18. As usual, most of the matches involving high-profile players will be held on centre court in two separate sessions starting at 2pm and 7pm. The finals of the women’s competition will be held at 5pm (doubles) followed by the singles at 7pm on February 23.