A difficult task for Tsitsipas in defending his title in the Dubai Men’s Tennis Championship

The results of the draw for the 34th edition of the Dubai Tennis Championship for men, which begins the day after tomorrow, Monday, at the Dubai Duty Free courts in the Al Garhoud area, and which is classified in the 500-point category with a total prize pool of $3.33 million, resulted in difficult confrontations for the defending champion, Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, ranked 33rd in the world, in his journey to defend his title.

The tournament continues until February 28, and will witness the participation of players among the top ten in the world, and seven out of the top twenty in the world rankings.

A difficult confrontation in the final price

Tsitsipas faces a major challenge, as he is expected to meet in the 16th final with world number 11, Russian Andrey Rublev, the 2022 Dubai Tennis champion, after skipping the opening match against Frenchman Hugo Humbert, 2024 Dubai Tennis champion. Rublev will play the first match against world number 60, Frenchman Valentin Roubaix.

Later challenges

If he qualifies, Tsitsipas may clash in the quarter-finals with the fourth seed in the tournament, the British Jad Dapper, ranked 12th in the world, and perhaps with the 10th seed in the world, the Kazakh Alex Rublik, who is seeking to win his first title in Dubai after reaching the final in the 2024 edition and losing to the Frenchman Humbert.

The second group and the competition for the top

On the other hand, the second group was relatively easier for the first seed in the tournament and seventh in the world, Canadian Auger Aliassime, who begins his campaign against Chinese Zizhen Zhang, ranked 319th in the world. Then he may face Tunisian Moez Al-Sharqi, ranked 139th in the world, who participates on an invitation card from the organizing committee. In the semi-finals, Aliassime is likely to meet world number 11 Daniel Medvedev, the 2023 champion.

Attending the lottery ceremony

The draw ceremony was witnessed by the Director General of Dubai Duty Free and Chairman of the Supreme Organizing Committee of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Ramesh Sidambi, the Deputy General Manager and Director of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Salah Tahlak, the Senior Vice President for Marketing Affairs, Sineid Al Sibai, the Secretary General of the UAE Padel and Tennis Federation, Saeed Al Marri, the representative of the Professional Tennis Players Association, Ahmed Abdel Azim, and the Lebanese tournament players Benjamin Hassan and the Frenchman, Artur Rinderkneich.

Al-Janahi bids farewell to the tournament

The national tennis team player, Abdullah Al Janahi, exited the Dubai Tennis competitions from the qualifying rounds, after losing to German Jan-Lennard Struff, ranked 77th in the world, in two sets without a response, in a match that lasted only 40 minutes on the side court.

Struve advanced clearly, winning the first set 6-0, and the second 6-1, concluding the qualifying rounds that began the day before yesterday, which determined the five players qualified for the main round of the tournament.