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Led by top seed Iga Swiatek and second seed and reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka, Chris Evert praised the quality and depth of the women's singles draw for the 2023 Dubai Tennis Championships. With multiple mouthwatering matches on offer throughout, the draw has thrown up some interesting match-ups right from the opening round.
Barring the injured Ons Jabeur, who is the current World No. 3, the draw for this coming week's WTA 1000 event in Dubai will feature all other Top-10 players and most of the Top-30.
Among the many thrilling matches in the first round itself is a clash between Grand Slam champions Elena Rybakina and Bianca Andreescu, and another between two-time Grand Slam winner Victoria Azarenka and former French Open finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Evert highlighted the quality of the competition after taking a look at the draw that was made on Saturday.
"Depth," Chris Evert wrote with a thumbs up, reacting to the draw on Twitter.
A Round of 16 match-up between Australian Open finalist Rybakina and world No. 6 Coco Gauff is also on the cards. Similarly, Jelena Ostapenko and Sabalenka are expected to face each other in another Round of 16 clash.
Meanwhile, Iga Swiatek, who will enter the Dubai Tennis Championships fresh off a dominant week at the Qatar Open, is likely to face 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez in the Round of 32. Former World No. 1 Karolina Pliskova could face sixth seed Maria Sakkari at the same stage of the tournament.
Iga Swiatek could face Maria Sakkari in Dubai Tennis Championships quarterfinals, Coco Gauff expected to clash with Caroline Garcia
Iga Swiatek and Maria Sakkari were placed in the same quarter of the draw for the 2023 Dubai Tennis Championships that begins on Sunday. While Swiatek won the Qatar Open title on Saturday, Sakkari fell just short in a closely contested semi-final against Jessica Pegula. Meanwhile, third seed Pegula is expected to face the in-form Belinda Bencic in the quarterfinals in Dubai later this coming week.
Coco Gauff, seeded fifth, was drawn to face World No. 5 Caroline Garcia at the last-8 stage. Completing the projected quarterfinals line-up is a clash between World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka and seventh seed Daria Kasatkina.
Jelena Ostapenko won the title in Dubai last year when it was held as a WTA 500 event. Garbine Muguruza won the Dubai title the last time it was hosted as a WTA 1000 event.
