Abu Dhabi Open
The Abu Dhabi WTA Women’s Tennis Open is a women's professional tennis tournament, played on outdoor hard courts.[1][2] Before 2020, the event was known as the World Tennis Championship (then sponsored by Mubadala), and was a men's and women's singles exhibition tournament, in 2021 it started to be part of the WTA Tour in the category WTA 500. It has been held annually since 2009 at the Abu Dhabi International Tennis Complex, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
| Mubadala World Tennis Championship | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Tournament information | |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Location | Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates |
| Venue | Abu Dhabi International Tennis Complex |
| Category | Exhibition |
| Surface | Hard |
| Draw | 64S/32Q/28D (2021) 6S (Men); 2S (Women) (exhibition) |
| Prize money | US$565,530 (2021) |
| Website | mubadalawtc.com |
| Current champions (2021) | |
| Women's singles |  Aryna Sabalenka |
| Women's doubles |  Shuko Aoyama / Ena Shibahara |
History
In November 2008, sponsor companies Flash and Capitala announced with IMG their partnership to create a new tennis exhibition for the beginning of the season, to take place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The event, first named Capitala World Tennis Championship, was conceived to promote the sport in the region, creating another world class tennis event in the Middle East alongside the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Dubai Tennis Championships, already taking place in the UAE, the ATP Qatar ExxonMobil Open and the WTA Qatar Total Open, taking place in Doha, Qatar, and the WTA Tour Championships, also set in Doha from 2008 to 2010. The six-player, three-day exhibition, with a winner-takes-all prize money of US$ 250,000, preceded by weeks of tennis-themed activities in the region, including an amateur Community Cup tournament in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, was created to take place early in the season, before the start of the actual tour events, as a warm-up exhibition for the top players, similar to the AAMI Classic in Melbourne.[3]
The inaugural Capitala World Tennis Championship took place from January 1 to January 3, 2009, with Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Nikolay Davydenko, Andy Roddick and James Blake taking part.[3] Murray won the event, defeating Blake, Federer, and then-World No. 1 Nadal in the final.[4]
As of October 2009, Federer, Nadal and Davydenko announced they would return for the 2010 edition, with Stanislas Wawrinka, David Ferrer and Robin Söderling completing the field. Nadal went one further this time, defeating compatriot Ferrer in the semi-finals and Söderling in the final without losing a set. Federer won third place with victory over Ferrer.
For the 2011 edition of the tournament, Nadal, Federer and Söderling returned with Tomáš Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Marcos Baghdatis completing the six-man line-up. Nadal defended the title with a hard-fought victory over Federer after they respectively beat Berdych and Söderling in the semi-finals.
The second 2011 edition (held on December 29–31, 2011) featured Nadal, Federer, Ferrer, Tsonga, Novak Djokovic and Gaël Monfils. Djokovic won the title by beating Monfils and Federer before defeating Ferrer in the final. In the battle for third place, Nadal triumphed over Federer.
On December 30, 2017, Jelena Ostapenko defeated Serena Williams in the first-ever women's match at the tournament.[5]
Past finals
Women's singles
| Year | Champions | Runners-up | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| ↓ Exhibition tournament ↓ | |||
| 2017 |  Jeļena Ostapenko |  Serena Williams | 6–2, 3–6, [10–5] |
| 2018 | Venus Williams | Serena Williams | 4–6, 6–3, [10–8] |
| 2019 |  Maria Sharapova | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Ajla Tomljanović | 6–4, 7–5 |
| 2020 | Not held due to the coronavirus pandemic | ||
| ↓ WTA 500 tournament ↓ | |||
| 2021 | Aryna Sabalenka | Veronika Kudermetova | 6–2, 6–2 |
Women's doubles
| Year | Champions | Runners-up | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| ↓ WTA 500 tournament ↓ | |||
| 2021 | Shuko Aoyama Ena Shibahara | Hayley Carter  Luisa Stefani | 7–6(7–5), 6–4 |
Men's singles
| Year | Champions | Runners-up | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| ↓ Exhibition tournament ↓ | |||
| 2009 |  Andy Murray |  Rafael Nadal | 6–4, 5–7, 6–3 |
| 2010 | Rafael Nadal |  Robin Söderling | 7–6(7–3), 7–5 |
| 2011 (Jan.) | Rafael Nadal (2) |  Roger Federer | 7–6(7–4), 7–6(7–3) |
| 2011 (Dec.) |  Novak Djokovic | David Ferrer | 6–2, 6–1 |
| 2012 | Novak Djokovic (2) | Nicolás Almagro | 6–7(4–7), 6–3, 6–4 |
| 2013 | Novak Djokovic (3) | David Ferrer | 7–5, 6–2 |
| 2015 | Andy Murray (2) | Novak Djokovic | (walkover) |
| 2016 (Jan.) | Rafael Nadal (3) | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Milos Raonic | 7–6(7–2), 6–3 |
| 2016 (Dec.) | Rafael Nadal (4) | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} David Goffin | 6–4, 7–6(7–5) |
| 2017 |  Kevin Anderson | Roberto Bautista Agut | 6–4, 7–6(7–0) |
| 2018 | Novak Djokovic (4) | Kevin Anderson | 4–6, 7–5, 7–5 |
| 2019 | Rafael Nadal (5) |  Stefanos Tsitsipas | 6–7(3–7), 7–5, 7–6(7–3) |
| 2020 | Not held due to the coronavirus pandemic[6] | ||
Records
Men's singles
| Most titles | Rafael Nadal |
5 |
|---|---|---|
| Most finals | Rafael Nadal |
6 |
| Most consecutive titles | Novak Djokovic |
3 |
| Most matches played | Rafael Nadal |
20 |
| Most matches won | Rafael Nadal |
15 |
| Most editions played | Rafael Nadal |
10 |
| Best winning % | Novak Djokovic |
92% |
| Youngest champion | Andy Murray |
21y, 7m, 23d (2009) |
| Oldest champion | Rafael Nadal |
33y, 6m, 21d (2019) |
| Longest final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 (38 games) | |||||
| Rafael Nadal |
63 | 7 | 77 | ||
| Stefanos Tsitsipas |
77 | 5 | 63 | ||
| Shortest final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 (15 games) | |||||
| Novak Djokovic |
6 | 6 | |||
| David Ferrer |
2 | 1 | |||
References
- WTA announces start of 2021 Tour season
- Abu Dhabi to kickstart women’s tennis season with new event in January
- "Flash, IMG and Capitala launch Abu Dhabi's first international tennis tournament". ameinfo.com. 2008-11-11. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
- "Murray battles to win over Nadal". BBC Sport. 2009-01-03. Retrieved 2009-01-04.
- "Serena says good to be back, despite loss to Ostapenko in Abu Dhabi" Yahoo! Sports; retrieved January 7, 2018
- Mubadala World Tennis Championship [@MubadalaWTC] (16 December 2020). "Tournament owners Flash Entertainment have made the difficult decision to not host the 2020 edition of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship after consultation with stakeholders and tennis governing bodies. The decision is a result of scheduling challenges in the tennis calendar of events due to the international response to COVID-19. The safety and wellbeing of our guests, players, officials, and spectators always comes first and we look forward to welcoming the Championship back in 2021" (Tweet) – via Twitter.