Birmingham, United Kingdom // Petra Kvitova, the two-time Wimbledon champion who has been hoping to build her grass court momentum for a third tilt at the oldest grand slam title, instead became the latest big name to lose at the rain-hit Birmingham WTA tournament on Thursday.
Moving gingerly on the lush surface, Kvitova subsided to a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 second round loss to Jelena Ostapenko, the world No 38.
Erasing a 0-2 deficit in the decider visibly encouraged the 19-year-old Latvian, who pressed harder, hit flatter, and often played the big points better.
“It was difficult to put the pressure on her,” said Kvitova, who played with her right thigh strapped.
“When she dropped serve she became more dangerous. And I wasn’t moving very well today.”
“At the beginning (of the grass court season) it is really difficult for the body. I don’t know that I did anything wrong. But at least I played two matches here, and I hope to get more at Eastbourne (next week).”
Related: Agnieszka Radwanska falters in rainy Birmingham while Belinda Bencic also makes early exit
Read also: Roger Federer eases through Halle opener and Kei Nishikori suffers pre-Wimbledon blow
Neither player was helped by a slightly late start and a 40-minute interruption in the middle of the match, both caused by incessant showers which have blighted the tournament for four days.
Perhaps unsurprisingly it was the younger player who proved more resilient in dealing with it all.
The most crucial moments came immediately after Kvitova had broken serve to level at a set all, and then surged into a 2-0 lead in the decider.
She followed it with a poor game, failing to land her first serve frequently enough and then playing an even more disappointingly in the seventh game, delivering a double fault and dropping her serve to love.
She earned a break back point in the following game but was denied by a brilliant forehand from Ostapenko and after that the match ended swiftly.
“I’d beaten her before,” said Ostapenko, referring to a victory on hard courts in Doha in the first week of the year.
“So I thought I could do it again.”
She next plays Madison Keys, the top 20 American for a place in the semi-finals.
Kvitova was followed to the exit door by Caroline Wozniacki, the former world number one, was who beaten 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-2 by Yanina Wickmayer, ranked down at 49 but a former finalist in Birmingham.
Wozniacki has also been struggling with injuries in recent weeks, and had moments when she appeared concerned not to aggravate them in a match that was interrupted three times by the weather.
Two other seeds, Angelique Kerber, the Australian Open champion, and Carla Suarez Navarro were also struggling when rain ended play early for the fourth day in a row.
Kvitova’s and Wozniacki’s exits followed those on earlier days of Agnieszka Radwanska, the top seed, of Belinda Bencic, the youngest world top ten player, and Karolina Pliskova, the eighth-seeded Czech who won the title on the Nottingham grass last week.
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In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
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.”
What is type-1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is a genetic and unavoidable condition, rather than the lifestyle-related type 2 diabetes.
It occurs mostly in people under 40 and a result of the pancreas failing to produce enough insulin to regulate blood sugars.
Too much or too little blood sugar can result in an attack where sufferers lose consciousness in serious cases.
Being overweight or obese increases the chances of developing the more common type 2 diabetes.
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