Indonesian sensation Janice Tjen saw her Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships campaign come to a swift end as second seed Amanda Anisimova defeated her opponent 6-1, 6-3 and entered the quarter-finals.
In the opening match on Centre Court, World No 6 Anisimova took only 70 minutes to defeat the Indonesian wild card in what was the Wimbledon finalist's first match of the tournament.
After receiving a bye first up, Anisimova was handed a walkover when Barbora Krejcikova withdrew due to injury. The American will now faces Mirra Andreeva in the quarter-final. Defending champion Andreeva defeated Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian 7-5, 6-3 in the second match.
However, Andreeva was far from perfect as she committed 31 unforced errors, including seven double faults.
Looking ahead to last eight clash, Andreeva said: “It’s the second time it ever happened to me, that the girl withdrew before the match. I had one more day of practice, but I feel like it’s kind of breaking the rhythm of your play a little bit.
“I feel like I was pretty far from perfect, from how I want to play. So I’m just really happy that I stayed focused and tried to reset for every single point, I’m super happy with that. I’m sure tomorrow is going to be better because I’m going to get into this rhythm.”
Andreeva, looking to become the first back-to-back winner since Elina Svitolina in 2018, added: “I know I’m a defending champion, but I have so many nice and great memories from Dubai from last year. I feel all the support from the people. I’m going to give it all and we’ll see how it’s going to go.”
It was a tough day for Tjen who was on a mission to make an impact in UAE.
Tjen had a great 2025 campaign that saw her rocket up the rankings from 578 at the start of the season to 53.
Between April and October 2025, Tjen won 72 of the 84 matches she played across all levels.
This month, Tjen, 23, rose to a career-high No 47 in the world. She became just the second Indonesian player in history to break into the top 50 on the WTA Tour.
There was more drama later in the day as lucky loser Antonia Ruzic reached the first WTA 1000 quarter-final of her career after top seed Elena Rybakina withdrew in the third set due to illness. Rybakina called for the trainer and retired from the match due to gastrointestinal issues, according to WTA.
The Dubai championships have seen a number of withdrawals, leading tournament director Salah Tahlak demanding harsher punishments for late withdrawals.
The WTA later formed a council to monitor the calendar and player commitments.
