Tunisian tennis star Ons Jabeur has replaced US Open champion Emma Raducanu at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship, organisers announced on Tuesday night.
Raducanu, 19, had been scheduled to face Olympic gold medallist Belinda Bencic in the one-off women's match on Thursday but was forced to withdraw after testing positive for Covid-19.
Jabeur has therefore been drafted in last-minute and she flew to Abu Dhabi on Tuesday evening in order to take part at the pre-season event at Zayed Sports City.
"See you soon in Abu Dhabi," Jabuer, 27, tweeted.
Jabeur is the leading star of Arab tennis and has enjoyed a breakthrough season this year. Having already become the first Arab woman to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final at the Australian Open last year, Jabeur became the first to do so again when she made it to the last eight at Wimbledon this summer.
In the week prior to Wimbledon, Jabeur became the first Arab woman to win a WTA Tour title when she clinched the Birmingham Classic. The world No 10, who reached a career-high No 7 this year, is the highest-ranked Arab player, female or male, in tennis history.
There were also two changes to the MWTC men's tournament on Tuesday night, with American Taylor Fritz and Dan Evans of Great Britain brought in to replace Austria's former US Open champion Dominic Thiem and Norwegian world No 8 Casper Ruud.
Thiem has been sidelined with a wrist injury since June and MWTC has come too soon for his return.
"I was looking forward to making my return to competition at Abu Dhabi but I feel that I am yet not ready to compete at the highest level," Thiem said in a statement. "It's disappointing to not take part this year but I need to continue my preparation for the upcoming season. I truly hope to return to the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in the future."
Fritz, the world No 23, and 25th-ranked Evans will join 20-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal, former world No 1 Andy Murray, world No 5 Andrey Rublev, and 14th-ranked Denis Shapovalov in the six-player men's tournament.
The action at the International Tennis Centre gets underway with the two quarter-finals on Thursday, with the winners advancing to face Nadal and Rublev - the tournament's two top seeds - in the semi-finals. The day will be completed by the women's match between Jabeur and Bencic.
Friday will host the two semi-finals and the fifth-place playoff, before Saturday stages the final and third-place playoff.
In line with the latest government guidelines, MWTC will welcome fans with green status on the Al Hosn app and a negative PCR test result with 96-hour validity across the three days of the tournament. MWTC is also accessible to international visitors after Abu Dhabi’s recent lifting of quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated travellers.
Tickets start from Dh100 for adults and Dh50 for children, and are available from ticketmaster.ae and Virgin Megastores across the UAE. In line with current protocols, measures will be in place within the stadium and throughout the Tennis Village to ensure the health and safety of fans, players and officials.
More details are available on www.mubadalawtc.com
How has net migration to UK changed?
The figure was broadly flat immediately before the Covid-19 pandemic, standing at 216,000 in the year to June 2018 and 224,000 in the year to June 2019.
It then dropped to an estimated 111,000 in the year to June 2020 when restrictions introduced during the pandemic limited travel and movement.
The total rose to 254,000 in the year to June 2021, followed by steep jumps to 634,000 in the year to June 2022 and 906,000 in the year to June 2023.
The latest available figure of 728,000 for the 12 months to June 2024 suggests levels are starting to decrease.
Jiu-jitsu calendar of events for 2017-2018:
August 5:
Round-1 of the President’s Cup in Al Ain.
August 11-13:
Asian Championship in Vietnam.
September 8-9:
Ajman International.
September 16-17
Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, Ashgabat.
September 22-24:
IJJF Balkan Junior Open, Montenegro.
September 23-24:
Grand Slam Los Angeles.
September 29:
Round-1 Mother of The Nation Cup.
October 13-14:
Al Ain U18 International.
September 20-21:
Al Ain International.
November 3:
Round-2 Mother of The National Cup.
November 4:
Round-2 President’s Cup.
November 10-12:
Grand Slam Rio de Janeiro.
November 24-26:
World Championship, Columbia.
November 30:
World Beach Championship, Columbia.
December 8-9:
Dubai International.
December 23:
Round-3 President’s Cup, Sharjah.
January 12-13:
Grand Slam Abu Dhabi.
January 26-27:
Fujairah International.
February 3:
Round-4 President’s Cup, Al Dhafra.
February 16-17:
Ras Al Khaimah International.
February 23-24:
The Challenge Championship.
March 10-11:
Grand Slam London.
March 16:
Final Round – Mother of The Nation.
March 17:
Final Round – President’s Cup.
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The lowdown
Badla
Rating: 2.5/5
Produced by: Red Chillies, Azure Entertainment
Director: Sujoy Ghosh
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Amrita Singh, Tony Luke
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
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The%20Roundup
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What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
Brown/Black belt finals
3pm: 49kg female: Mayssa Bastos (BRA) v Thamires Aquino (BRA)
3.07pm: 56kg male: Hiago George (BRA) v Carlos Alberto da Silva (BRA)
3.14pm: 55kg female: Amal Amjahid (BEL) v Bianca Basilio (BRA)
3.21pm: 62kg male: Gabriel de Sousa (BRA) v Joao Miyao (BRA)
3.28pm: 62kg female: Beatriz Mesquita (BRA) v Ffion Davies (GBR)
3.35pm: 69kg male: Isaac Doederlein (BRA) v Paulo Miyao (BRA)
3.42pm: 70kg female: Thamara Silva (BRA) v Alessandra Moss (AUS)
3.49pm: 77kg male: Oliver Lovell (GBR) v Tommy Langarkar (NOR)
3.56pm: 85kg male: Faisal Al Ketbi (UAE) v Rudson Mateus Teles (BRA)
4.03pm: 90kg female: Claire-France Thevenon (FRA) v Gabreili Passanha (BRA)
4.10pm: 94kg male: Adam Wardzinski (POL) v Kaynan Duarte (BRA)
4.17pm: 110kg male: Yahia Mansoor Al Hammadi (UAE) v Joao Rocha (BRA
LOVE%20AGAIN
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