When Grigor Dimitrov moved into a one-set lead, few inside the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium would have envisaged anything other than a first-round victory for the tournament top seed.
Dimitrov, the world No 4, arrived at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships as the only elite-level player in the field. He was in good form having recently reached Rotterdam Open final, and while he struggled with illness in that defeat to Roger Federer, he insisted upon arrival in Dubai that he was fit, firing and raring to go.
Over the net from the ATP Finals champion was a player who had won one match from four ATP Tour tournaments played this season. He had not fared any better when he dropped down a level either, winning a solitary match from two Challenger events.
So when Dimitrov took that one-set lead against Malek Jaziri, all signs pointed to a routine win for the Bulgarian. Jaziri has fallen to many Dubai top seeds in the past, including Federer, Andy Murray, and Novak Djokovic.
But not this time.
After Dimitrov had claimed the first set 6-4 with a break of serve in the final game, Jaziri responded in kind in the second, breaking in the 11th game before serving out the set for 7-5.
The 3,000-strong crowd were now fully invested in this contest, with many throwing their impassioned support behind Jaziri. The world No 117 repaid that support with a break to love in the seventh game of the final set, and that, essentially, was that.
Jaziri had two chances on Dimitrov’s serve to close out the match, and he had to fend off a break point of his own, but ultimately he held his nerve to clinch the set 6-4, send the crowd into raptures, and claim a famous victory.
“Great feeling today, first of all, to win my first top five,” the 34-year-old Tunisian said. “I am really happy for that. I tried to fight every point since the beginning. It was so tight. All the time I was longer on the court, I was playing better, feeling more comfortable.”
Jaziri will not have much time to revel in his milestone victory. He faces Dutchman Robin Haase in the second round on Wednesday, although their match is last on Centre Court.
“I will try to relax a little bit, enjoy dinner with my team, enjoy this win,” Jaziri said. “That’s most important. It’s been a long time I didn’t win lot of matches. This is a good win for me.
“After that I will start to think about Robin. He is good player, so it will be tough match.”
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For Dimitrov, the defeat will be tough to take. After all, he was the star attraction in Dubai this week and was clear favourite to, at the very least, reach the final.
However, the 26-year-old Bulgarian was magnanimous in defeat, preferring to praise the performance of Jaziri instead of getting too down on himself.
“It is what it is. You have days like this that you can’t really do much else,” he said. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t play my game to the extent that I was looking for. Movement was not good over the court. I thought I served OK for a little bit, but then I lost my rhythm again.
“All the credit to Malek. He was strong throughout the whole match.”
Defeat in the first round of an outdoor hard court event is hardly the best preparation for the upcoming Masters 1000 event at Indian Wells, but Dimitrov insisted the best way to respond will be to focus on the next challenge.
“The best thing is you have another match in about a week or two’s time. I guess that’s the positive side,” he said.
“I’m going to keep going with the same attitude. It’s not easy when you lose. There’s no point for me to get too down on myself.
“I think I had a good start to the season. Now is the time to push hard through. I don’t shy away. I feel like I’m going to be ready.”
PFA Team of the Year: David de Gea, Kyle Walker, Jan Vertonghen, Nicolas Otamendi, Marcos Alonso, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Christian Eriksen, Harry Kane, Mohamed Salah, Sergio Aguero
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
How it works
Each player begins with one of the great empires of history, from Julius Caesar's Rome to Ramses of Egypt, spread over Europe and the Middle East.
Round by round, the player expands their empire. The more land they have, the more money they can take from their coffers for each go.
As unruled land and soldiers are acquired, players must feed them. When a player comes up against land held by another army, they can choose to battle for supremacy.
A dice-based battle system is used and players can get the edge on their enemy with by deploying a renowned hero on the battlefield.
Players that lose battles and land will find their coffers dwindle and troops go hungry. The end goal? Global domination of course.
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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What are NFTs?
Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.
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Messi at the Copa America
2007 – lost 3-0 to Brazil in the final
2011 – lost to Uruguay on penalties in the quarter-finals
2015 – lost to Chile on penalties in the final
2016 – lost to Chile on penalties in the final
The specs: 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor
Price, base / as tested Dh220,000 / Dh320,000
Engine 3.5L V6
Transmission 10-speed automatic
Power 421hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 678Nm @ 3,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 14.1L / 100km
Essentials
The flights: You can fly from the UAE to Iceland with one stop in Europe with a variety of airlines. Return flights with Emirates from Dubai to Stockholm, then Icelandair to Reykjavik, cost from Dh4,153 return. The whole trip takes 11 hours. British Airways flies from Abu Dhabi and Dubai to Reykjavik, via London, with return flights taking 12 hours and costing from Dh2,490 return, including taxes.
The activities: A half-day Silfra snorkelling trip costs 14,990 Icelandic kronur (Dh544) with Dive.is. Inside the Volcano also takes half a day and costs 42,000 kronur (Dh1,524). The Jokulsarlon small-boat cruise lasts about an hour and costs 9,800 kronur (Dh356). Into the Glacier costs 19,500 kronur (Dh708). It lasts three to four hours.
The tours: It’s often better to book a tailor-made trip through a specialist operator. UK-based Discover the World offers seven nights, self-driving, across the island from £892 (Dh4,505) per person. This includes three nights’ accommodation at Hotel Husafell near Into the Glacier, two nights at Hotel Ranga and two nights at the Icelandair Hotel Klaustur. It includes car rental, plus an iPad with itinerary and tourist information pre-loaded onto it, while activities can be booked as optional extras. More information inspiredbyiceland.com
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
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