Dubai Tennis Championship tickets selling ‘like hot cakes’

Dubai: Dubai Tennis Championships owners and organisers Dubai Duty Free have confirmed that tickets for the men’s quarter-finals, semi-finals and final have already sold out after they went on sale on Tuesday.

“The tickets have gone like hot cakes and we are proud to have the Dubai Tennis Championships become such an integral part of the sporting calendar of the UAE,” tournament director Salah Tahlak told Gulf News from Melbourne, where he is attending the Australian Open. “The tennis tournament is an annual feature now and people want to be there to take in all the action and get to see all the big names in men’s and women’s tennis. As organisers and owners we are proud to present such a popular tournament to the people.”

Tickets officially went on sale at the box office outside the Dubai Tennis Stadium in Al Garhoud from 7am on Tuesday.

Despite chilly conditions, people had started lining up outside the box office from 2am with the hope of being the early ones to lay their hands on tickets.

A Russian couple called Alex and Natalia were among the first ones to purchase their tickets for both weeks of the competition, which gets under way with the Dubai Duty Free Women’s Open on February 17.

“We were in a better position to manage the sale of tickets this year,” Magdy Al Shaikh, event and project supervisor, Dubai Tennis Championships, told Gulf News. “We were touched with the enthusiasm of the people in getting tickets for the tournament. Tickets for the men’s quarter-finals, semi-finals and final have been sold out.”

A total of 569 transactions were undertaken by 1pm at the box office on Tuesday. “We will be in a position to give actual figure for the number of tickets sold after compiling the data,” Al Shaikh said.

Ticket sales will continue every day from 9am to 9pm.

Except for the last three days of the men’s competition, tickets are still available for the entire week of the women’s event and the first three days of the men’s tournament.

Grandstand tickets can be bought online at http://www.timeouttickets.com

For further information about tickets, prices and the tournament, visit http://www.dubaidutyfreetennischampionships.com or phone the call centre on

+971 4 4172415.