DUBAI // Cagla Buyukakcay believes her hard work through the years is finally paying off as she capped her 2015 with the biggest win of her career at the Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge.
Buyukakcay, ranked No 158 in the world, fought back after losing the first set to edge former world No 20 and second-seed Klara Koukalova 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 in a two-hour, 45-minute final at the Habtoor Grand hotel last evening.
It was the Turk’s third consecutive victory from a set down. She earlier fought back against defending champion and top seed Alexandra Dulgheru in the quarter-finals and compatriot Ipek Soylu in the semi-finals.
Buyukakcay, 26, was delighted with her consistency here. “It’s the perfect way to finish this season,” she said.
She was back on the court 30 minutes after her singles triumph and won the doubles title with Maria Sakkari 7-6, 6-4, topping Soylu and Elise Mertens.
“Every round was tough, but I played some of my best tennis the whole week, and that was important,” Buyukakcay said.
“Today it was so tough. I came back from 5-2 [in the first set], but then I lost the set. After that I believed again that I can win. I am really happy about my performance, mentally and physically. Everything was perfect. I won against good players this week, even top-100 players. So all the hard work is finally paying off.”
It was her first victory at a US$75,000 (Dh275,000) tournament and she will take home $11,400 and 115 ranking points as the singles champion.
She said she was happy the victory came in Dubai, where in February she scored her first (and only) win at a Premier-level WTA tournament, defeating Gabriela Dabrowski in the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship.
“I really love Dubai,” Buyukaksay said. “I won my first Premier match here and now I have won my first $75,000 tournament.
“I always enjoy Dubai and that is why we wanted to play our last tournament here in Dubai, despite the busy season.”
As she heads into the off-season with her most important victory, Buyukakcay said she hopes to come back a better player next season.
“This year, I was expecting to be in the main draws at the grand slams, which I didn’t do,” she said. “So I didn’t play really well in the grand slams, but I had my best ranking this year [No 108 in February], which is so important. It is the highest in Turkish history, too, so it was very important for me.
“But this was a year of learning for me because I played so many WTA main draws first time in my life, and I lost so many.
“I learnt something from each of these matches. So I am really happy with how things have panned out.”
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How to become a Boglehead
Bogleheads follow simple investing philosophies to build their wealth and live better lives. Just follow these steps.
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• Diversify. Do not keep all your eggs in one basket. Spread your money between different companies, sectors, markets and asset classes such as bonds and property.
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A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
Evacuations to France hit by controversy
- Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
- Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
Russia's Muslim Heartlands
Dominic Rubin, Oxford
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.”
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