The postponement of Sania Mirza’s match left fans disappointed, but Jelena Ostapenko lifted spirits with a brilliant performance in defense of her Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships title. The 13th seed ruthlessly defeated Katarina Zavatska 6-1, 6-4, while Elena Rybakina, the ninth seed and reigning Wimbledon champion, beat Bianca Andreescu, the former US Open champion, 6-3, 6-4 in the late match.
Despite some ups and downs, Rybakina was happy with her victory and is determined to improve with each match. Ostapenko showed off her impressive skills and formidable defense, making it clear that she is a potential threat to other top players, including reigning world No 1 Iga Swiatek, who is also competing in Dubai, with many top stars in action, including former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka, the tournament promises to be a thrilling competition.
“It’s great to be back here, I played some amazing tennis last year and I enjoy playing in Dubai – I love the tournament and the city,” she said. “The crowd is amazing and I’m enjoying my tennis.
“She’s not an easy opponent I think. Today didn’t give her many chances to play. I was playing more aggressive and took time away from her and made her play uncomfortable. I think that was the key.
“I really try to focus more on myself when I play against some girls that I don’t really know that much. I think in general it was not a bad match,” said Ostapenko who will face Czech Republic’s Linda Fruhvirtova in the second round.
Day 2 of the tennis tournament also featured a number of lengthy matches on Centre Court, including a record-breaking three-hour and 29-minute battle between Romania’s Sorana Cirstea and Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia, which was won by Cirstea 4-6, 7-6, 7-5.
The day before, a match between Russia’s Ludmilla Samsonova and Dubai-based Spaniard Paula Badosa lasted 3 hours and 22 minutes, which was the longest women’s tennis match of 2023 until that point. Later in the evening, Victoria Azarenka, a two-time Australian Open winner and former runner-up in Dubai, defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 7-5. Despite her victory, Azarenka admitted that she wished she had been able to finish the match much earlier.
“I’m happy to win, for sure but I felt that I had t too many ups and downs today,” said Azarenka. “I just wanted to kind of close it out a bit earlier. Finding the way to win, it’s also very good, especially when you’re maybe not playing at your best.”
