Andrey Rublev will have the chance to retain his Mubadala World Tennis Championship title against Stefanos Tsitsipas in Sunday's final after a comprehensive victory over world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz on Saturday.
Rublev, who defeated Andy Murray in last year's final, dominated the US Open champion to claim a 6-2, 6-1 victory in the semi-finals of the Abu Dhabi tournament.
As the top seed, Alcaraz received a bye into the semi-finals and his lack of recent matches showed as Rublev raced into a 3-0 lead. The Russian world No 8 then claimed his second break in the eighth game as Alcaraz attempted to keep the set alive.
After a service hold each to start the second set, Rublev once again seized control, breaking Alcaraz twice and winning five straight games to earn a straightforward victory.
"I was lucky I already played one match and he didn’t play, so that helped me a lot," said Rublev, who beat Croatia's Borna Coric in Friday's quarter-finals. "You could tell Carlos was not at his best today and hasn’t played much tennis but that is what pre-season is about."
Looking ahead to Sunday's final, Rublev said: "Against Stefanos it will be a tough match and he will be the favourite because he has been doing his pre-season here (in the UAE) and is adapted to the conditions."
Alcaraz will return to the court on Sunday for the third-place playoff against Casper Ruud, whom he defeated to win his maiden Grand Slam title in New York. That match will precede the final between Rublev and Tsitsipas.
The 19-year-old Spaniard shot to the top of the world rankings this year after a historic season which comprised five titles including his triumph in New York, but he was forced to end his season early due to an abdominal injury.
As such, MWTC was his first return to a match court since retiring from the Paris Masters quarter-finals at the start of November.
"[Pre-season] started a little bit late for me, I was recovering from my injury and couldn’t do everything from the beginning. Now I’m trying to get ready and it’s all going well," Alcaraz said. "There is still a lot to improve so I need to keep working for the next month."
Tsitsipas 'too good' for Ruud
In the earlier semi-final, Tsitsipas produced an impressive performance to ease past Ruud and advance to the final.
Tsitsipas, the world No 4, was too strong on the day for his Norwegian opponent - ranked one place higher - in a one-sided 6-2, 6-2 victory.
The 24-year-old Greek was outstanding on serve and applied constant, and immediate, pressure on Ruud's service games, breaking in the first game of the match and again in the fifth to put himself in control.
By comparison, Tsitsipas didn't face a singe break point the entire match and he maintained his dominance throughout the second set, earning successive breaks in the fifth and seventh games as part of a five-game run en route to a comfortable victory.
"Overall, [my game] is there," said Tsitsipas, who reached the final on his first appearance at MWTC in 2019. "I was able to close off points at the net and rip forehands from time to time, my movement seems to be good, I'm happy with how I responded to difficult shots, and the serve was good today."
Despite defeat, Ruud will have one more match at MWTC, with the Roland Garros and US Open finalist set to compete in the third-place playoff on Sunday prior to the final.
"Obviously not the result I was looking for but at the same time, I got here after a holiday which was great to recharge, and this is all part of my practice plan to get ready for Australia," Ruud, 23, said. "I get to practice with top players and play a couple of matches, so however it goes, I'm happy to be here and looking forward to another match tomorrow.
"Stef was just too good and better than me at everything," Ruud added. "If he plays like this he's going to be a danger for anyone."
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
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