Petra Marcinko emerges Al Habtoor Tennis champion

Dubai: Young Croatian Petra Marcinko marked a belated birthday celebration with a rousing 6-3, 6-3 win over former World No 2 Vera Zvonareva to become the latest singles champion at the 28th Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge played at the Habtoor Grand Resort, on Sunday.

The Croatian who won last weekend’s inaugural Fujairah W75 Championships turned 20 on December 4. Marcinko ensured that neither her age nor her lack of experience came in the way as she powered past the battle hardened 41-year-old Russian Zvonareva in straight sets to be crowned the 2025 champion at this W100 ITF World Tennis Tour event.

The Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge began as a $25,000 (AED 91,250) event that was later classified as a $75,000 tournament between 1999 to 2015. In 2016, the event was upgraded to a $100,000+H competition on the ITF Women’s Circuit.

Strong UAE show

Khalaf Al Habtoor, Group Chairman of the Al Habtoor Group of Companies was joined by Ahmed Abdul Malik, Vice President of UAE Tennis Federation, Nasser Al Marzooki, General Secretary of UAE Tennis Federation and Tournament Director Noura Badawi at the prize distribution held after the finals.

Being successful in this part of the world is not new to Dubai’s latest champion. In 2019, she had won back-to-back tournaments in Fujairah and Dubai while on the ITF Junior Circuit. Six years later, she is the only one replicating this feat at the same destinations.

“This is something that I am used to perhaps,” Marcinko smiled.

“Maybe this place brings out the best in me. But jokes aside, I think I was pretty focused on doing well here in both the weeks so that I can travel back home to Croatia and have a short break before I start preparations for the 2026 season,” she added.

Sunday’s title also helped Marcinko cap a successful 2025 season. She began with her first WTA 125 title at the 2025 ATV Tennis Open in Rome followed by two tournament wins in the USA with titles at the Landisville Challenge and Tyler Challenge in August and October, respectively. This was followed by the Fujairah W75 triumph at the end of November and Sunday’s crowning moment at the Habtoor Grand Resort.

Making a comeback on the WTA Tour was 41-year-old Zvonareva, also with a likelihood of becoming only the second player after Turkey’s Cagla Buyukakcay [in 2015] to win both the singles and the doubles titles here.

But that was not to be as Marcinko was at the top of her game from the sixth game that saw her clear at 4-2. Crafty that she is, Zvonareva broke back immediately only to see Marcinko break back and serve out the set 6-3 in 35 minutes of intense action before an appreciative crowd.

Ending 2021 at the world number one on the ITF Junior Circuit and having won the Australian Open junior girls crown a year later, Marcinko also holds the Croatian record for being the youngest women’s player to win six professional singles title before turning 18.

“All those honours and feats are behind me now. For the moment, it is all about how I produce my best tennis and stay focused on court to continue winning without any injuries interfering,” she stated.

Later in the evening, the pairing of Zvonareva and Rada Zolotareva was denied the doubles crown as well as the all-Asian pairing of Xinyu Gao and Mananchaya Sawangkaew fought back from a set down to win 4-6, 7-5, 10-7.

Results: (Singles final) Petra Marcinko bt Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 6-3. (Doubles final) Xinyu Gao/Mananchaya Sawangkaew bt Rada Zolotareva/Vera Zvonareva 4-6, 7-5, 10-7.