Mills all praise for the tournament

Dubai: Referee Alan Mills is hoping to celebrate his seventh year in this tournament without rain bothering the daily order of play.

"Let us see what is in store for us this week," Mills told Gulf News on the eve of the seventh staging of the Dubai Duty Free Women's Open.

For 23 years, Mills was one of the most influential men in British sport in his capacity as chief referee at Wimbledon. It was Mills who made the call when the weather turned nasty at the All England Club sending match schedules and backlogs through the roof.

He later wrote a book called Lifting the Covers.

Rain interruptions

Surprisingly, the rains have followed Mills to normally sunny Dubai each year. Like last year, when the quarterfinals between Amelie Mauresmo and Svetlana Kuznetsova had to be interrupted on a number of occasions.

And it looks as though Mills's influence won't be felt at this year's competition either, going by the weather forecast for the rest of the week. It is expected to be partly cloudy today, but the next few days will see ample sunshine.

Mills was all praise for the tournament: "It just goes from strength to strength. Every year there are changes and they fit in so well. This year they have new courts and that eases out a lot of pressure on the players."