Players start arriving for Al Habtoor Challenge

Dubai: Tunisian Selima Sfar will be one of the tennis stars arriving today for the 8th Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge starting at the Grand Habtoor Resort and Spa later this week.

Sfar, who has been a regular at the Dubai Tennis Championship and the Al Habtoor Challenge in the past, will be joined by some of the top players on the WTA circuit this year.

"We have been inundated with requests from players as far as America who want to play in our tournament," tournament consultant Hani Al Khafief told Gulf News.

The Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge has a huge appeal among players on the circuit due to its timing.

"It is held when the season has come to an end and hence some of the top players are quite keen to use this event as a preparation for the season ahead," Al Khafief said.

The Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova will be the top seed at this year's tournament followed by Croatia's Jelena Kostanic and Iveta Benesova as the number two and three players.

"We have some of the players who have already arrived and have started practicing for the qualifiers," Al Khafief said.

Huge interest

There has been a deluge of requests from neighbouring countries for wild card entries to their players.

Prominent among them is Algeria's Samia Medjahdi and India's Sanaa Bhambri. "But we will not take a decision on the wild cards till Friday," Al Khafief said.

Meanwhile, work on the tennis courts at the Grand Habtoor Resort and Spa has been going on in full swing. The courts have been resurfaced and the lights have been upgraded to suit international standards.

"We are all set for the start of yet another successful tournament," Al Khafief said.

In the 2005 competition, Marion Bartoli of France won the singles title beating Kaia Kanepi in the finals in this annual tournament meant to give women's tennis in the region a huge boost.