WTA Doha
Victoria Azarenka will face another former world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki in an intriguing Qatar Open quarter-final after seeing off WTA rising star Elina Svitolina in three sets in Doha on Wednesday.
Azarenka came good 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 6-1 to maintain her quest for a third Qatar title after 2012 and 2013.
The unseeded Belarussian, who held a match-point at 5-4 in the second set, came across Wozniacki last in the Australian Open when she beat the Dane in the second round.
“She beat me last time in Australia, so I have to play my best,” said Wozniacki, who is into the last eight after unseeded Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru retired trailing 6-1, 3-0 in their second round clash.
“But it’s a new place, it’s a new tournament, and hopefully I can do better this time,” the Danish third seed added.
Top seed Petra Kvitova was in control of her second round clash with Jelena Jankovic at 6-1, 1-1 when the Serb had to retire with a hip problem.
Kvitova had lost her last two meetings with Jankovic and the Czech said: “Our match was on a high level until she had to stop. I hope she will get better and compete again soon.”
She now faces Carla Suarez Navarro, who came through her meeting with Karolina Pliskova 7-6 (7/2), 6-4.
Germany’s sixth-seed Andrea Petkovic avenged her loss in Dubai last week to Kazakh Zarina Diyas 5-7, 6-2, 6-4.
Kvitova’s compatriot Lucie Safarova pulled off the surprise of the day, her 14 aces firing her past Russian fifth seed Ekaterina Makarova 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3.
Agnieszka Radwanska, the Polish fourth seed, spoiled Flavia Penetta’s 33rd birthday celebrations, cruising past the Italian 6-1, 6-1 to set up a last eight meeting with Venus Williams.
WTA Acapulco
World No 51 Monica Puig pulled off a huge shock by thrashing second seed Sara Errani 6-1, 6-1 on Wednesday.
Errani, the 2012 and 2013 champion, had lost in straight sets in her previous meeting to the Puerto Rican, 38 places below her in the rankings, but this scoreline will still come as a surprise for the Italian.
Top seed Maria Sharapova had no problems in seeing off Colombian lucky loser Mariana Duque-Marino 6-1, 6-2 to seal her place in the quarter-finals, where she will face Magdalena Rybarikova, who hammered Elena Bogdan 6-0, 6-2 in 44 minutes.
Caroline Garcia and Timea Bacsinszky, the third and fifth seeds respectively, also came through, while there were also wins for Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, Johanna Larsson and Sesil Karatantcheva.
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HIJRA
Starring: Lamar Faden, Khairiah Nathmy, Nawaf Al-Dhufairy
Director: Shahad Ameen
Rating: 3/5
Fifa Club World Cup quarter-final
Kashima Antlers 3 (Nagaki 49’, Serginho 69’, Abe 84’)
Guadalajara 2 (Zaldivar 03’, Pulido 90')
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Banthology: Stories from Unwanted Nations
Edited by Sarah Cleave, Comma Press
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Monster Hunter: World
Capcom
PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Results
6.30pm: Mazrat Al Ruwayah – Group 2 (PA) $36,000 (Dirt) 1,600m, Winner: RB Money To Burn, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Eric Lemartinel (trainer)
7.05pm: Handicap (TB) $68,000 (Turf) 2,410m, Winner: Star Safari, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
7.40pm: Meydan Trophy – Conditions (TB) $50,000 (T) 1,900m, Winner: Secret Protector, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
8.15pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 - Group 2 (TB) $293,000 (D) 1,900m, Winner: Salute The Soldier, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass
8.50pm: Al Rashidiya – Group 2 (TB) $163,000 (T) 1,800m, Winner: Zakouski, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) $65,000 (T) 1,000m, Winner: Motafaawit, Sam Hitchcock, Doug Watson
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Match info
Uefa Nations League A Group 4
England 2 (Lingard 78', Kane 85')
Croatia 1 (Kramaric 57')
Man of the match: Harry Kane (England)
Winners
Ballon d’Or (Men’s)
Ousmane Dembélé (Paris Saint-Germain / France)
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Aitana Bonmatí (Barcelona / Spain)
Kopa Trophy (Best player under 21 – Men’s)
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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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