Mayar Sherif defeated Elise Mertens at the Madrid Masters on Monday to become the first Egyptian to reach the quarter-finals of a WTA 1000 event.
World No 59 Sherif edged out former Australian Open semi-finalist Mertens 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 in a two-hour, 53-minute rollercoaster clash in the Spanish capital.
The 26-year-old trailblazer became the first player from her country to crack the top 100 in August 2021, to break the top 50 in May 2022, and to win a WTA Tour title in Parma last October.
Sherif has beaten Italian Camila Giorgi, Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina, French No 5 seed Caroline Garcia and now 24th seed Mertens on her run to the last eight in Spain.
Next up, though, will be the formidable challenge of second seed Aryna Sabalenka who ended 16-year-old wild card Mirra Andreeva's run in Madrid with a 6-3, 6-1 victory in the fourth round on Monday.
Australian Open champion Sabalenka is in excellent form having reached at least the quarter-final stage at all seven tournaments she has contested in 2023, with her record standing this season standing at 26-4.
Andreeva, the youngest player yet to reach the last-16 of a WTA 1000 event, lost for the first time in a professional match this year. After winning consecutive ITF events in April, the teenager defeated former US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez, Beatriz Haddad Maia and Magda Linette in Madrid to take her winning streak to 16 matches.
The Russian became the third 15-year-old to win a WTA 1000 main draw match when she beat Fernandez and went on to beat two top 20 players in Brazilian Maia and, on her 16th birthday, Linette of Poland.
But the power and experience of Sabalenka – it was the first time Andreeva had played a top-10 player – proved too much, with the 2021 champion hitting 28 winners compared to her opponent's tally of 14.
The Belarusian, who lost to Iga Swiatek in the final of her last tournament in Stuttgart, said: “Of course I'm happy with the win, I wish I would have played at Madrid when I was 16.
“I think my first few games I was trying to adjust for her rhythm and her game, and then I kept trying to play my game, be aggressive and fight for every point.”
In the men's draw, Russia's Daniil Medvedev edged out his friend and countryman Alexander Shevchenko 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 to reach the fourth round.
Shevchenko, 22, who appeared to struggle with cramps towards the end of the match, took a 5-1 lead in the first set but went down 5-0 in the second. He then led 2-0 and 4-2 in the decisive set.
“He played well. He’s young, so I’m sure he’s going to [move] up the rankings, especially if he plays like this in this tournament,” Medvedev said of the 96th-ranked Shevchenko, who was making his main-draw debut in Madrid after coming through qualifying.
“It’s always like this. He’s still young so he has a lot of time to go up.
“I practised with him before, I know that he can play very good, so the more consistent he is [and] the more matches he plays like this, maybe next time he’s going to win and the higher he is going to go. I’m very happy that today I managed to beat him.”
Medvedev, who has won consecutive matches in Madrid for the first time and sealed the 300th tour-level victory of his career, will now take on another Russian in unseeded Aslan Karatsev, who defeated Australia's Alex de Minaur 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
Penguin Press
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
FFP EXPLAINED
What is Financial Fair Play?
Introduced in 2011 by Uefa, European football’s governing body, it demands that clubs live within their means. Chiefly, spend within their income and not make substantial losses.
What the rules dictate?
The second phase of its implementation limits losses to €30 million (Dh136m) over three seasons. Extra expenditure is permitted for investment in sustainable areas (youth academies, stadium development, etc). Money provided by owners is not viewed as income. Revenue from “related parties” to those owners is assessed by Uefa's “financial control body” to be sure it is a fair value, or in line with market prices.
What are the penalties?
There are a number of punishments, including fines, a loss of prize money or having to reduce squad size for European competition – as happened to PSG in 2014. There is even the threat of a competition ban, which could in theory lead to PSG’s suspension from the Uefa Champions League.
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Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
Springtime in a Broken Mirror,
Mario Benedetti, Penguin Modern Classics
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City, Tuesday, 11pm (UAE)
Matches can be watched on BeIN Sports
Villains
Queens of the Stone Age
Matador
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.”
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
The bio
Who inspires you?
I am in awe of the remarkable women in the Arab region, both big and small, pushing boundaries and becoming role models for generations. Emily Nasrallah was a writer, journalist, teacher and women’s rights activist
How do you relax?
Yoga relaxes me and helps me relieve tension, especially now when we’re practically chained to laptops and desks. I enjoy learning more about music and the history of famous music bands and genres.
What is favourite book?
The Perks of Being a Wallflower - I think I've read it more than 7 times
What is your favourite Arabic film?
Hala2 Lawen (Translation: Where Do We Go Now?) by Nadine Labaki
What is favourite English film?
Mamma Mia
Best piece of advice to someone looking for a career at Google?
If you’re interested in a career at Google, deep dive into the different career paths and pinpoint the space you want to join. When you know your space, you’re likely to identify the skills you need to develop.
