Marcos Baghdatis, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Mohamed Safwat grab Dubai WC's
Dubai Tennis Championships had found its place in the ATP calendar in 1993 and over the years it became one of the essential events outside Grand Slams and Masters 1000 tournaments. After they built the Aviation Club Tennis Centre in 1996, Dubai upgraded to the ATP 500 series where it stayed ever since. The first champion was Karel Novacek and the trophy ended in the hands of the names like Goran Ivanisevic, Thomas Muster, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Alex Corretja. Roger Federer started his Dubai reign in 2003 and he is by far the most successful player of this event, winning seven titles until 2015.
Besides him, only the most prominent stars have won here in the past 15 years, including Andy Roddick, Rafael Nadal, Stan Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic who is a four-time Dubai champion. Roger leads 2019 edition together with Kei Nishikori, Marin Cilic, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Borna Coric, Milos Raonic and Daniil Medvedev and the organizers have announced three players from outside the top-100 who have earned the main draw wild card to join a stellar field and seek some big wins and points. The world no. 124 Marcos Baghdatis has been ranked outside the top-50 for almost two years now and he returns to Dubai for the ninth time, winning nine matches so far and losing in the final to Stan Wawrinka in 2016.
Also, Baghdatis was the semi-finalist in 2010, taking a set against Novak Djokovic before the Serb prevailed. Marcos played in the quarter-final of Montpellier and he will try to carry that form into the desert as well, capable of playing good tennis in Dubai when he finds his 'A game.' The 24-year-old Indian Ramkumar Ramanathan in another player from the top-130 who will try to crack the top-100 for the first time in the season ahead of us, playing in his maiden ATP final in Newport last year and making the first Dubai appearance next week after receiving an invitation.
The 28-year-old Mohamed Safwat will be the lowest-ranked player in the draw, scoring just two wins in the ATP tournaments so far in a career and spending the most of his tennis journey on Futures where he played in more than 40 finals! Mohamed had a chance to play in Dubai in 2017, losing 6-4, 6-3 against Gael Monfils in the opening round and seeking his biggest win next week with a potentially favorable draw.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2GDeTpX
No comments