Cagla Buyukakcay shown in action at last year's Al Habtoor Challenge. Jeffrey E Biteng / The National
Cagla Buyukakcay shown in action at last year's Al Habtoor Challenge. Jeffrey E Biteng / The National
Cagla Buyukakcay shown in action at last year's Al Habtoor Challenge. Jeffrey E Biteng / The National
Cagla Buyukakcay shown in action at last year's Al Habtoor Challenge. Jeffrey E Biteng / The National

Tennis

Turkey’s Cagla Buyukakcay, after banner year that began in Dubai, returns for ‘perfect start’

Cagla Buyukakcay last year won Dubai's venerable Al Habtoor Challenge, an ITF Women's Circuit tournament, and with it began an historic ascent for tennis in her country.

Ahmed Rizvi

December 11, 2016

  • English
  • Arabic

DUBAI // Last year, Cagla Buyukakcay, ranked No 158 at the time, brought her season to a “perfect end” in Dubai by becoming the first woman in the history of the Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge to win both the singles and doubles titles in the same year.

Now, after a year of firsts in 2016, the world No 77 is hoping to make the “perfect start” to the new season here in the event which runs until December 17.

“I am very excited to be back here,” said Buyukakcay at the draw ceremony for the tournament, which has been upgraded from a $75,000 (Dh275,500) ITF Women’s Circuit tournament to a $100,000 (Dh367,300) category with 150 points available for the singles champion. “It all started here for me.”

Before her Al Habtoor triumph in 2015, Buyukakcay had not even reached the final of an ITF $50,000 tournament, let alone a $75,000 event.

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In the past 12 months though, she has been busy rewriting the record books of Turkish tennis.

She appeared in the main draws at the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, becoming the first woman from her country to do so. The 27-year-old also appeared at the Rio Olympics, becoming the first Turkish women’s tennis player to appear at an Olympic Games.

Buyukakcay also made her entry in the record books as the first Turkish woman to win a tournament on the main WTA Tour when she cruised to victory in front of adoring home fans in Istanbul and her success catapulted her to a career-high No 60 in the WTA rankings in September, also the highest for a Turkish woman.

“It was a big jump for me to win the title here,” said Buyukakcay, who will start her Al Habtoor title-defence against Russian Ksenia Pervak. “The win here gave me a lot of confidence. It gave me a lot of belief and I managed to make a good start to the season. Later, I won the title at home. So it just got better and better.

“It was the best season of my career, but I am hoping to do even better in 2017. I am really looking forward to competing against the best players at the highest level. It will be a good challenge for me.

“I had a great tournament last year and I am going to start to start my new season here this year. So I am really excited. Last year, I ended my season here. It was the perfect end.

“This year, I am starting my season here. Hopefully, it will be a perfect start.”

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