Elina Svitolina admitted her desire to make history at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships had inspired her to fightback from a lethargic start on Tuesday.
The Ukrainian is bidding to become the first player to win the WTA Dubai title three times in a row.
But her chances of doing that had not looked good when she was broken in her opening service game against Tunisian Ons Jabeur in their second-round match on Centre Court.
Of the importance of completing three titles in three years, she said: "It's a big motivation for me.
“When I was 0-2 down, I told myself, 'Come on, you are here to make history of the tournament’."
Svitolina did rally from her tentative beginning and won four games in a row from being 4-1 down to go 5-4 up and be serving for the set.
But Jabeur, the world No 56, broke back and a closely-fought clash looked to be in the offing.
However, Jabeur had felt a twinge in her right shoulder during the warm-up before the game and the pain got worse as the match went on.
She received prolonged treatment, with her shoulder and arm being massaged, following the 11th game.
While she was able to continue she was visibly suffering physically. After Svitolina won the first set on a tie-break she won the first four games of the second set at a canter before Jabeur retired hurt to end the match 7-6, 4-0.
Jabeur was left upset that injury had denied her the chance to upset the sixth seed, having played some great tennis early on before her injury became too much.
“I'm still a little angry about it as I felt I was playing really good and I was playing good shots during the game,” the 24-year-old said.
"I was playing my best tennis and I was handling the first set pretty good but then it is frustrating to have this kind of injury."
Svitolina said she was not surprised by Jabeur’s high early level, but did feel the fact the Tunisian had played both singles and doubles on Monday had given her an early edge on being familiar with the playing surface.
“I played against her in juniors, so obviously I know she's a good player. She can deliver a good match,” she said.
“That's why I think, yeah, it was kind of expectable because she played already doubles and played singles. She got a little bit used to the conditions. I know I won lots of matches here previous years, but still I needed some time.”
Ons Jabeur was left upset that injury had denied her the chance to upset Elina Svitolina, having played some great tennis early on. Francois Nel / Getty Images
Svitolina hopes she will a better level for her match with Garbine Muguruza on Wednesday for a place in the quarter-finals.
"Today I didn't really feel like in a match mood. I don't know why. Was a bit struggling. In the end, we could say I had a very slow start. Hopefully, yeah, tomorrow will be better."
Muguruza, the 12th seed, got the better of Saisai Zheng 7-5, 6-2 in her match.
The Spaniard reached the semi-finals in Dubai 12 months ago before losing to Daria Kasatkina, but Svitolina says her focus is purely on her own tennis and not who her opponent is.
"For me, I just want to have the mentality of not thinking so much who is in the other side of the net," she said. "I'm here to win matches, try to improve my game each match.
"It's not going to be easy. It's not easy to defend the title, to step on court just in these conditions. With the wind, the ball is flying a little bit. I just want to focus on myself."
The UAE squad for the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games
The jiu-jitsu men’s team: Faisal Al Ketbi, Zayed Al Kaabi, Yahia Al Hammadi, Taleb Al Kirbi, Obaid Al Nuaimi, Omar Al Fadhli, Zayed Al Mansoori, Saeed Al Mazroui, Ibrahim Al Hosani, Mohammed Al Qubaisi, Salem Al Suwaidi, Khalfan Belhol, Saood Al Hammadi.
Women’s team: Mouza Al Shamsi, Wadeema Al Yafei, Reem Al Hashmi, Mahra Al Hanaei, Bashayer Al Matrooshi, Hessa Thani, Salwa Al Ali.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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.”
Netherlands v UAE, Twenty20 International series
Saturday, August 3 - First T20i, Amstelveen
Monday, August 5 – Second T20i, Amstelveen
Tuesday, August 6 – Third T20i, Voorburg
Thursday, August 8 – Fourth T20i, Vooryburg
