Two Arab players will be contesting this year’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, with Lebanon’s Hady Habib and Tunisian Aziz Dougaz both accepting wildcards into the singles main draw.
The duo made waves last month after successfully qualifying for the Australian Open, where Habib became the first Lebanese player in the Open Era to win a singles grand slam main draw match, while Dougaz put up a great fight against Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka in the first round.
The 216th-ranked Dougaz has been drawn to face Belgium’s Zizou Bergs in the Dubai opening round, while Habib, ranked 166 in the world, will kick off his campaign against Australia’s Alexei Popyrin.
Habib is making his Dubai main draw debut this week after contesting the qualifying rounds back in 2022, where he lost a close three-setter to eventual finalist Jiri Vesely.
“I played a really good player who ended up playing the main draw and beating Djokovic – Jiri Vesely. It was a tough match, he served super well,” Habib told The National.
“I got a lot of experience, it was nice to play here. But this time is different. I’m in the main draw, got a wildcard, which I want to thank the tournament organisation and the director for granting me the wildcard. It’s huge for me.”
At the Australian Open last month, Habib lost in the second round to French world No 14 Ugo Humbert, who will be defending his title in Dubai, having lifted the ATP 500 trophy here 12 months ago.
“He’s a really nice player. I played him in Melbourne. He had a fantastic tournament. It’s nice to see him here, he has a wildcard, he can play some good matches in one of the best tournaments ever,” Humbert said of Habib on Saturday at the draw ceremony.
Humbert successfully defended his title in Marseille six days ago and will be hoping to do the same in Dubai, where main draw action commences on Monday.
The French lefty, seeded fifth in the Emirates, has a brutal opener against in-form Czech Jiri Lehecka, who knocked out Carlos Alcaraz en route to the semi-finals in Doha this week.
“The draw is tough, so it won’t be easy to do it again,” said Humbert.
“It’s super nice to be back. I love this tournament. It’s the best title of my career. It’s nice to play here again. I have great memories and I’ll try to do it like last year.
“I like the conditions here because it’s quite fast. So I like it because I have an aggressive game, which works well here.”
Daniil Medvedev is the top seed in Dubai and has a tricky opening test against big-serving Jan-Lennard Struff.
The Russian is making his fifth appearance at the tournament and was crowned champion here in 2023.
Medvedev retired one set into his quarter-final against Felix Auger-Aliassime in Doha on Thursday citing food poisoning but should be good to go for the start of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Another former champion in the draw is Andrey Rublev, who triumphed in Dubai in 2022.
The second seed, who is contesting the Doha final later on Saturday, will return to the UAE 12 months after his shocking disqualification for screaming in the face of a line judge during his semi-final clash with Alexander Bublik.
Rublev will take on former US Open champion Marin Cilic in the Dubai first round.
Other standout openers include a mouthwatering showdown between Gael Monfils and Matteo Berrettini, and a meeting between former Dubai semi-finalist Dan Evans and Russian ex-top-10 player Karen Khachanov.
