Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship: Dominic Thiem in the hunt for glory as young generation look to shine

Pranav Vishwamitra 13:48 14/03/2021
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  • Top seed Dominic Thiem will be seeking the 18th title of his career and his first crown since lifting the 2020 US Open trophy when play gets underway in the ATP500 week of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

    Known for stepping up for the big occasions, the world number four will be bidding to become the first Austrian since Thomas Muster in 1997 to lift the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships trophy.

    A player for the big occasion, he has reached the finals of the 2018 and 2019 French Opens and the Australian Open in 2020, and along with his triumph in New York he has also reached the final of the ATP Tour Finals in the past two seasons. But his path to glory will be contested by stars in the likes of Roberto Bautista Agut, who claimed victory against him in the 2015 edition of the Dubai Tennis Championship and put a stop to his fine run in the Doha Tennis quarterfinals earlier in the week.

    This year’s tournament has seen some big names in the likes of Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka pull out of the tournament, while Rafael Nadal declined a wild-card entry to the championship.

    The Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships, which is owned and organized by Dubai Duty-Free and held under the patronage of H. H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai is set to provide action-packed tennis until 20th March.

    Second seed Andrey Rublev is one to watch out for as he continues his red-hot form despite the loss against Bautista Agut in Doha, and Basilashvili who is the 2021 Doha champion will look to use his momentum after beating the likes of Roger Federer, Taylor Fritz and Bautista Agut.

    “We anticipate another excellent week with several players who are worthy of winning such a prestigious title,” said Tournament Director Salah Tahlak.

    “We have given wild cards this week to Denis Novak, who recently reached the quarter-finals in Montpellier, to Malek Jaziri who made a fantastic run to the semi-finals in 2018, to Aslan Karatsev, who at the recent Australian Open and as a qualifier became the first player in the Open Era to reach the semi-finals of their debut Grand Slam, and finally to former Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships ball boy Alexei Popyrin, who last month won the first title of his career in Singapore.”

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