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The first 1000-level tournament of the season has reached its conclusion for the WTA Tour, yet we are heading straight into another in the form of the WTA Dubai Open 2024. This high-profile tournament is set to commence on Sunday, February 18th. And given its status as a 1000-level event, the world’s best are involved, as you’d expect.
With a 56-player draw for the WTA Dubai Open, the week ahead promises plenty of high-octane tennis. As for some of the biggest names involved, we have the likes of Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina, Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Ons Jabeur, and many others. Of course, these players could meet during the tournament once we reach the latter stages, and fireworks are guaranteed if this occurs.
As for the wider tournament schedule, main draw matches will be played between Sunday, February 18th and Sunday, February 24th, which is finals day. However, there is plenty more information you need to know concerning the 2024 WTA Dubai Open. On that note, I will now cover this important information to give you the most comprehensive preview possible.
2024 WTA Dubai Open – key tournament details
Contents
I’ve stressed above that this is a 1000-level tournament on the WTA Tour. This is the second straight week that the tour has a 1000-level event, and the WTA schedule 2024 only gets more intense from this point onwards. To add to that, only Grand Slam events carry more significance, which is why tournaments like the WTA Dubai Open attract the world’s best players.
So, with 1000 points up for grabs for the winner, and opportunities galore for lower-ranked players to make a name for themselves, this should be a highly entertaining tournament. And now, it’s time to run through some of the more important details ahead of the WTA Dubai Open 2024.
Event schedule
If you look at the provisional event schedule, the event is set to run from February 18th to February 24th. Of course, during this seven-day schedule, we will be treated to many enticing matches.
As for the matches that are scheduled for the individual days throughout the tournament, let me share a round-by-round breakdown:
- February 18th & 19th – first round
- February 20th – second round
- February 21st – third round
- February 22nd – quarter-finals
- February 23rd – semi-finals
- February 24th – finals
Note that given the time difference between the UK and Dubai, matches are not expected to begin before 10 AM for the early rounds. This moves to 11 AM once we reach the later rounds.
Prize money
The total prize money on offer for the WTA Dubai Open 2024 stands at $3,211,715, which is rather huge. But even more impressively, this displays an increase of more than 15% compared to the 2023 edition. As for what the winner stands to walk away with, the fixed prize money for the champion is $523,485.
Surface and location
As things have been since the beginning of the WTA Dubai Open, the 2024 edition will be played on outdoor hard courts. Of course, the tournament is set to be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and the venue is the Aviation Club Tennis Centre.
Qualifiers and wildcards
Moving to some specifics of the draw for this tournament now, the 2024 WTA Dubai Open consists of 8 qualifiers and 4 wildcards. To give you exact names for each category, I’ve broken these down right here:
Qualifiers
- Clara Burel
- Nao Hibino
- Wang Xiy
- Storm Hunter
- Anna Kalinskaya
- Bernarda Pera
- Magdalena Frech
- Viktoriya Tomova
Wildcards
- Dayana Yastremska
- Lulu Sun
- Ashlyn Krueger
- Shuai Zhang
A closer look at the WTA Dubai Open draw
As mentioned above, the WTA Dubai Open 2024 consists of 56 players in the main draw. Besides the wildcards and qualifiers highlighted above, there are 16 seeded players too. Additionally, the top 8 seeds will not need to play in the first round, meaning they have all received a ‘bye’ into round two.
On that note, let me cover those top 8 seeds now while showcasing their position in the 2024 WTA Dubai Open draw. At the same time, I’d like to cover a few interesting matches you should look out for this year, as showcased below.
Top half seeds
- Iga Swiatek (1)
- Coco Gauff (3)
- Ons Jabeur (5)
- Zheng Qinwen (6)
Bottom half seeds
- Aryna Sabalenka (2)
- Elena Rybakina (4)
- Marketa Vondrousova (7)
- Maria Sakkari (8)
Key matches
- Kudermetova (13) vs Yastremska (WC) – round one
- Pavlyuchenkova vs Bouzkova – round one
- Kalinina vs Svitolina (15) – round one
- Haddad Maia (11) vs Sakkari (8) – possible third round
- Swiatek (1) vs Svitolina (15) – possible third round
- Vondrousova (7) vs Samsonova (12) – possible third round
WTA Dubai Open predictions
To wrap up this look ahead to the WTA Dubai Open, I’d like to issue a couple of predictions for the tournament. Note that these outright tips serve as an ideal complement to our tennis predictions today, which focus on individual matches for these major events. And with that clarified, let me share a couple of interesting predictions for the 2024 WTA Dubai Open now.
Outright winner prediction (favoured player) – Iga Swiatek
Given her results at the WTA Qatar Open, I find it hard to look beyond the top seed as the favoured player here. Of course, the fact that she is the top seed and world number one automatically makes Swiatek a favourite to win this title. But we have to consider form and recent results when making such predictions, both of which look very good for Iga Swiatek.
Outright winner prediction (underdog) – Victoria Azarenka
By definition, to shoot for an underdog prediction, we must look outside of the top seeds. Having done that, there is one player that stands out above the rest, and that player, for me, is Victoria Azarenka. People tend to forget that this 34-year-old is a two-time Grand Slam champion, and she can still play a seriously high level of tennis.
Just last week, Azarenka made the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open before losing to the in-form world number one, Iga Swiatek. So for me, if she plays a similar level of tennis in the WTA Dubai Open, she could be a surprise winner.
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