Early surprises at the “Al Habtoor Tennis International”… The exit of the first seed

The 28th Al Habtoor International Women’s Tennis Challenge, with prizes worth $100,000, caught the spotlight after the second day of the event witnessed a resounding surprise with the exit of the first seed in the tournament, Hungarian Dalma Galfi, who was forced to withdraw in the second set of her match against Teresa Martinkova, emerging from the qualifying rounds, after an injury she sustained after a full hour of strong play and close level between the two players.

In the rest of today’s matches, the fourth seed, Croatian Petra Marcinko, continued her strong performances after defeating Slovakian Viktoria Kakova in two unanswered sets, 6-4 and 6-1, in a match that lasted an hour and 15 minutes. Russian Alftina Abraaj also achieved a valuable victory over veteran Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic in two sets to none, with a score of 6-3 and 6-2.

In turn, Russian Sofia Lancer succeeded in defeating Australian Olivia Jadaki in two straight sets, 7-5, 6-2, after a strong match that lasted an hour and 20 minutes.

In the same context, Sheetal Iyer, delegate of the International Tennis Federation and general referee of the tournament, praised the distinguished organizational level provided by the organizing committee year after year, stressing that the quality of services provided to the players, including hospitality and administrative and technical facilities, contributed to raising the level of competition and attracting more promising names in the world of tennis.

Sheetal considered that organizing the Fujairah International Championship before the launch of the “Al Habtoor International” was an additional factor in raising the players’ readiness and improving the technical level.

Sheetal, who is visiting the UAE for the third time, expressed her great admiration for Dubai, stressing that in every visit she feels a great deal of happiness and comfort due to the continuous development the city is witnessing, which reflects positively on the visitors’ experience.

On the other hand, the local tournament competitions are continuing, held on the sidelines of the main event, on the courts of the Hub Tennis Club in Silicon Oasis, with the participation of 380 male and female players competing in 11 categories, which reflects the growing interest in developing the game base locally and providing competitive platforms for emerging talents.