Top seed Kudermetova to play Kung in Al Habtoor opener

Dubai: Top seeded Polina Kudermetova will take on Swiss girl Leonie Kung, while second seed Arina Rodionova will meet Great Britain’s Amarni Banks in their first round encounters as the 27th Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge gets under way from Monday.

Last year’s runner-up and No 3 seed Arianne Hartono will be up against one of the eight qualifiers and fourth seed Alexandra Eala will face wild card from Croatia, Petra Marcinko.

The annual competition got under way with the first round of qualifying on Sunday morning. “We have some good young players who have been displaying a superior standard of play coming into this tournament this week. I think this competition has always targeted quality of players, and I think we are into a sort-of transition period,” Khalid Al Ali, former General Secretary of UAE Tennis Association and representative of the Al Habtoor Group Al Ali, said.

“As the organisers, we are well aware that we need to get the ‘big names’ to make this evening attractive to all. But we also know that these young players have a high level of tennis and this is the secret behind the success of our event,” he added.

There were a couple of upsets in the qualifying rounds with Seed No 7 Jaimee Fourlis losing to Freya Christie of Great Britain 6-3, 6-4, while No 10 seed Ilinca Dalina Amariei going down to Danka Kovinic 6-3, 6-2.

Sofia Costoulas and Tara Wurth, top two seeds in the qualifying eased through into the next round, while No 3 Ankita Raina retired from her match while trailing Russian Ekaterina Shalimova.

First time

Costoulas got past Anna Snigireva 6-4, 6-1, while Croatia’s Wurth was in a mighty hurry with a 6-0, 6-0 Diana Demidova. India’s Raina retired due to an abdominal injury while trailing first-timer Shalimova 5-7, 0-1.

“I want luck to be my best friend since this is my first time in Dubai. The idea is to last as long as I can here this week, and just go out there and play some tennis to ensure I do that,” Shalimova said.

“I had been seriously contemplating Dubai since the past four years, and finally since I am here I want to do the best I can. I love this place. There is so much sunlight and I want to continue being here,” she added.

The Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge began as a $25,000 (Dh91,250) event that was classified as a $75,000 tournament between 1999 to 2015. In 2016, this was upgraded to a $100,000+H competition on the ITF Women’s Circuit.