Ostapenko joins star-studded line-up for Dubai showdown
French Open champion makes it eight out of world’s top 10
French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko has joined the stellar line-up that will battle for the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships title later this month, adding her name to a star-studded field that includes a further seven of the world’s top 10 and three other reigning or former Grand Slam winners.
In 2017 the Latvian became the first player from her country to win a Grand Slam title and, ranked 47 at the time, the first unseeded woman to win at Roland Garros since 1933. The 2014 Wimbledon junior champion has since gone from strength to strength and has firmly established herself as a member of the world’s top 10.
“It was a great surprise to everyone when Jelena Ostapenko won the French Open last year, defeating former Dubai champion Caroline Wozniacki before crowning her spectacular two weeks with victory over world No. 4 Simona Halep in the final,” said Colm McLoughlin, executive vice-chairman and CEO of Dubai Duty Free. “She has made fantastic progress since her first visit to Dubai in 2016 when she was beaten in the qualifying rounds, and we look forward to seeing how she fares this month against what is a world-class field of other top achievers.”
Ostapenko not only claimed her first Grand Slam title in 2017, but during the best season of her career so far she added a title in Seoul. She was also the runner-up in Charleston, a semi-finalist four times and a quarter-finalist in Acapulco and at Wimbledon, where she defeated reigning Dubai champion Elina Svitolina. She also claimed a victory over Wimbledon winner and world No. 1 Garbine Muguruza in Wuhan. All that success meant that a year after ending the season ranked 44, she qualified for the elite player field at the WTA Finals in Singapore.
Determined to improve
At the end of December she beat Serena Williams in an exhibition match in what was the American’s first match since giving birth but has struggled in the early days of this season, losing in the first round in both Shenzhen and Sydney and the third round of the Australian Open before recovering to reach the quarter-finals in St Petersburg. “Jelena Ostapenko has now established herself as one of the very best players in the world, and when she arrives here she will be determined to improve on her modest start to the season,” said Tournament Director Salah Tahlak. “Although she faces formidable opposition in the form of so many other champions she has clearly demonstrated that she belongs among the favourites for the title.”
Ostapenko joining the field brings the number of top 10 players to eight, in a line-up which includes four Grand Slam champions, and four former world No. 1s.
She has made fantastic progress since her first visit to Dubai in 2016 when she was beaten in qualifiers, and we look forward to seeing how she fares this month.” Colm McLoughlin » Executive vice-chairman, Dubai Duty Free