Dubai Tennis Championships

The Dubai Tennis Championships or Dubai Open (also known as the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships for sponsorship reasons) (formerly known for sponsorship reasons as the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships and the Dubai Duty Free Men's and Women's Championships) is a professional tennis tournament owned and organized by Dubai Duty Free and held annually in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on outdoor hardcourts.

Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships
Tournament information
Tour	ATP Tour WTA Tour
Founded	1993
Location	Dubai United Arab Emirates
Venue	Aviation Club Tennis Centre
Surface	Hard - outdoors
Website	Official website
Current champions (2020)
Men's singles	Novak Djokovic
Women's singles	Simona Halep
Men's doubles	John Peers / Michael Venus
Women's doubles	Hsieh Su-wei / Barbora Strýcová
ATP World Tour Category ATP Tour 500 Draw 32S / 16Q / 16D Prize money US$2,950,420 (2020)
WTA Tour Category WTA Premier Draw 30S / 48Q / 28D Prize money US$2,908,770 (2020)

The tournament takes place at the end of February and organizes a men's and women's event. The tournament takes place under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. In 2001 the ATP upgraded the tournament from a 250 level to a more prestigious 500 level tournament. Prior to the 1990s there was an annual Dubai Tennis Championship played at the British Embassy.

The Dubai Tennis Championships is the third tournament in pro tennis history to award equal prize money for both men and women.

The courts usually have a medium-fast speed considered to be similar in speed to the Shanghai and Swiss Indoor (Basel) courts.

History

The 2014 Dubai Tennis Championships semifinal featuring Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic

The Dubai Tennis Championships debuted at the Aviation Club in 1993 as an ATP 250 tournament.[1] At the time there was no formal stadium and the tournament was hosted on hardcourts surrounded by temporary scaffold seating to host a total of 3000 viewers across all courts.[1]

In 1996, the Dubai Tennis Championships took place at the newly erected Dubai Tennis Stadium at the Aviation Club. The construction of the Dubai Tennis Stadium also led to the development of various food & beverage entertainment locations in and around the stadium base, like the Irish and Century Villages. In 2012, a 293-bedroom hotel was constructed on-site that hosts many of the players and officials during the 2 week event.

The inaugural ATP men's tournament was won by Karel Nováček in 1993 who was ranked world number 23 at the time. The inaugural WTA women's tournament debuted in 2001 as a Premier tournament and was won by Martina Hingis.

For five years, Swiss Roger Federer, on the men's side, and Belgian Justine Henin, on the women's side, dominated the singles' tournaments. Between 2003 and 2007, Federer and Henin each won the singles title four times. However, in 2008, neither player managed to reach the finals; Andy Roddick and Elena Dementieva became the new champions. Currently, the reigning champions are Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep.

In 2005, the Dubai Tennis Championships implemented equal prize money policy[2] becoming the third professional tennis event to do so after the US Open and Australian Open.

2009 Shahar Pe'er visa controversy

In February 2009, Israeli player Shahar Pe'er was denied an entry visa by the United Arab Emirates, a country that did not have diplomatic relations with Israel at the time. Tournament director Salah Tahlak said that Pe'er was refused on the grounds that her appearance could incite anger in the Arab country, after she had already faced protests earlier at the ASB Classic over the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict.[3] A number of top-seeded players, among them Venus Williams,[4] condemned the action not to grant Pe'er a visa.

In response, the Dubai Tennis Championship was fined a record US$300,000. The fine was appealed by DTC, but the WTA Tour Board rejected the appeal.[5] Pe'er was awarded a guarantee to enter the next (2010) edition of the event, plus US$44,250, an amount equal to the average prize money she earned per tournament in 2008.[6] A number of highly ranked tennis players, including 2008 winner Andy Roddick, pulled out of the men's event (ATP 500 Dubai) which was scheduled to take place the week after the women's event. As a result, the UAE issued Israeli Andy Ram a visa for the men's tournament.[7]

Past finals

Dubai Tennis Championships in 2006

In the men's singles, Roger Federer (winner in 2003–05, 2007, 2012, 2014–15, 2019, runner-up in 2006, 2011) holds the records for most titles (eight), most finals (ten), and most consecutive titles (three), sharing the last record with Novak Djokovic (winner in 2009–11, 2013, runner-up in 2015). In the women's singles, Justine Henin (2003–04, 2006–07) holds the record for most titles (four) and shares with Venus Williams (2009–10, 2014) and Elina Svitolina (2017–18) the record for most consecutive titles (two). In men's doubles, Mahesh Bhupathi (1998, 2004, 2008, 2012–13) has won the most overall titles (five), and co-holds with Grant Connell (1995–96) the record for most consecutive titles (two). In women's doubles, Liezel Huber (2007–09, 2011–12) took the most titles (five) and, alongside partner Cara Black (2007–09), the most back-to-back titles (three).

Men's singles

Roger Federer (winner in 2003–05, 2007, 2012, 2014–15, 2019, runner-up in 2006, 2011) holds all records in Dubai, for most titles (eight), most finals (ten), most consecutive titles (three) and most consecutive finals (five).

Novak Djokovic (winner in 2009–11, 2013, 2020, runner-up in 2015) shares with Federer the record for most consecutive titles (three).

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Score
1993	Karel Nováček	Fabrice Santoro	6–4, 7–5
1994	Magnus Gustafsson	Sergi Bruguera	6–4, 6–2
1995	Wayne Ferreira	Andrea Gaudenzi	6–3, 6–3
1996	Goran Ivanišević	Albert Costa	6–4, 6–3
1997	Thomas Muster	Goran Ivanišević	7–5, 7–6^(7–3)
1998	Àlex Corretja	Félix Mantilla	7–6^(7–0), 6–1
1999	Jérôme Golmard	Nicolas Kiefer	6–4, 6–2
2000	Nicolas Kiefer	Juan Carlos Ferrero	7–5, 4–6, 6–3
2001	Juan Carlos Ferrero	Marat Safin	6–2, 3–1 retired
2002	Fabrice Santoro	Younes El Aynaoui	6–4, 3–6, 6–3
2003	Roger Federer	Jiří Novák	6–1, 7–6^(7–2)
2004	Roger Federer (2)	Feliciano López	4–6, 6–1, 6–2
2005	Roger Federer (3)	Ivan Ljubičić	6–1, 6–7^(6–8), 6–3
2006	Rafael Nadal	Roger Federer	2–6, 6–4, 6–4
2007	Roger Federer (4)	Mikhail Youzhny	6–4, 6–3
2008	Andy Roddick	Feliciano López	6–7^(8–10), 6–4, 6–2
2009	Novak Djokovic	David Ferrer	7–5, 6–3
2010	Novak Djokovic (2)	Mikhail Youzhny	7–5, 5–7, 6–3
2011	Novak Djokovic (3)	Roger Federer	6–3, 6–3
2012	Roger Federer (5)	Andy Murray	7–5, 6–4
2013	Novak Djokovic (4)	Tomáš Berdych	7–5, 6–3
2014	Roger Federer (6)	Tomáš Berdych	3–6, 6–4, 6–3
2015	Roger Federer (7)	Novak Djokovic	6–3, 7–5
2016	Stan Wawrinka	Marcos Baghdatis	6–4, 7–6^(15–13)
2017	Andy Murray	Fernando Verdasco	6–3, 6–2
2018	Roberto Bautista Agut	Lucas Pouille	6–3, 6–4
2019	Roger Federer (8)	Stefanos Tsitsipas	6–4, 6–4
2020	Novak Djokovic (5)	Stefanos Tsitsipas	6–3, 6–4

Women's singles

Justine Henin (2003–04, 2006–07) collected a record total of four singles titles in Dubai.

Former world No. 1 Simona Halep clinched the title in Dubai in 2015 and 2020.

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Score
↓  Premier tournament   ↓
2001	Martina Hingis	Nathalie Tauziat	6–4, 6–4
2002	Amélie Mauresmo	Sandrine Testud	6–4, 7–6^(7–3)
2003	Justine Henin-Hardenne	Monica Seles	4–6, 7–6^(7–4), 7–5
2004	Justine Henin-Hardenne (2)	Svetlana Kuznetsova	7–6^(7–3), 6–3
2005	Lindsay Davenport	Jelena Janković	6–4, 3–6, 6–4
2006	Justine Henin-Hardenne (3)	Maria Sharapova	7–5, 6–2
2007	Justine Henin (4)	Amélie Mauresmo	6–4, 7–5
2008	Elena Dementieva	Svetlana Kuznetsova	4–6, 6–3, 6–2
↓  Premier 5 tournament   ↓
2009	Venus Williams	Virginie Razzano	6–4, 6–2
2010	Venus Williams (2)	Victoria Azarenka	6–3, 7–5
2011	Caroline Wozniacki	Svetlana Kuznetsova	6–1, 6–3
↓  Premier tournament   ↓
2012	Agnieszka Radwańska	Julia Görges	7–5, 6–4
2013	Petra Kvitová	Sara Errani	6–2, 1–6, 6–1
2014	Venus Williams (3)	Alizé Cornet	6–3, 6–0
↓  Premier 5 tournament   ↓
2015	Simona Halep	Karolína Plíšková	6–4, 7–6^(7–4)
↓  Premier tournament   ↓
2016	Sara Errani	Barbora Strýcová	6–0, 6–2
↓  Premier 5 tournament   ↓
2017	Elina Svitolina	Caroline Wozniacki	6–4, 6–2
↓  Premier tournament   ↓
2018	Elina Svitolina (2)	Daria Kasatkina	6–4, 6–0
↓  Premier 5 tournament   ↓
2019	Belinda Bencic	Petra Kvitová	6–3, 1–6, 6–2
↓  Premier tournament   ↓
2020	Simona Halep (2)	Elena Rybakina	3–6, 6–3, 7–6^(7–5)

Men's doubles

Mahesh Bhupathi (1998, 2004, 2008, 2012–13) took five doubles titles at the tournament, each time with a different partner.

Year	Champions	Runners-up	Score
1993	John Fitzgerald Anders Järryd	Grant Connell Patrick Galbraith	6–2, 6–1
1994	Todd Woodbridge Mark Woodforde	Darren Cahill John Fitzgerald	6–7, 6–4, 6–2
1995	Grant Connell Patrick Galbraith	Tomás Carbonell Francisco Roig	6–2, 4–6, 6–3
1996	Grant Connell (2) Byron Black	Karel Nováček Jiří Novák	6–0, 6–1
1997	Sander Groen Goran Ivanišević	Sandon Stolle Cyril Suk	7–6, 6–3
1998	Mahesh Bhupathi Leander Paes	Donald Johnson Francisco Montana	6–2, 7–5
1999	Wayne Black Sandon Stolle	David Adams John-Laffnie de Jager	4–6, 6–1, 6–4
2000	Jiří Novák David Rikl	Robbie Koenig Peter Tramacchi	6–2, 7–5
2001	Joshua Eagle Sandon Stolle (2)	Daniel Nestor Nenad Zimonjić	6–4, 6–4
2002	Mark Knowles Daniel Nestor	Joshua Eagle Sandon Stolle	3–6, 6–3, [13–11]
2003	Leander Paes David Rikl (2)	Wayne Black Kevin Ullyett	6–3, 6–0
2004	Mahesh Bhupathi (2) Fabrice Santoro	Jonas Björkman Leander Paes	6–2, 4–6, 6–4
2005	Martin Damm Radek Štěpánek	Jonas Björkman Fabrice Santoro	6–2, 6–4
2006	Paul Hanley Kevin Ullyett	Mark Knowles Daniel Nestor	1–6, 6–2, [10–1]
2007	Fabrice Santoro (2) Nenad Zimonjić	Mahesh Bhupathi Radek Štěpánek	7–5, 6–7^(3–7), [10–7]
2008	Mahesh Bhupathi (3) Mark Knowles (2)	Martin Damm Pavel Vízner	7–5, 7–6^(9–7)
2009	Rik de Voest Dmitry Tursunov	Martin Damm Robert Lindstedt	4–6, 6–3, [10–5]
2010	Simon Aspelin Paul Hanley	Lukáš Dlouhý Leander Paes	6–2, 6–3
2011	Sergiy Stakhovsky Mikhail Youzhny	Jérémy Chardy Feliciano López	4–6, 6–3, [10–3]
2012	Mahesh Bhupathi (4) Rohan Bopanna	Mariusz Fyrstenberg Marcin Matkowski	6–4, 3–6, [10–5]
2013	Mahesh Bhupathi (5) Michaël Llodra	Robert Lindstedt Nenad Zimonjić	7–6^(8–6), 7–6^(8–6)
2014	Rohan Bopanna (2) Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi	Daniel Nestor Nenad Zimonjić	6–4, 6–3
2015	Rohan Bopanna (3) Daniel Nestor (2)	Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi Nenad Zimonjić	6–4, 6–1
2016	Simone Bolelli Andreas Seppi	Feliciano López Marc López	6–2, 3–6, [14–12]
2017	Jean-Julien Rojer Horia Tecău	Rohan Bopanna Marcin Matkowski	4–6, 6–3, [10–3]
2018	Jean-Julien Rojer (2) Horia Tecău (2)	James Cerretani Leander Paes	6–2, 7–6^(7–2)
2019	Rajeev Ram Joe Salisbury	Ben McLachlan Jan-Lennard Struff	7–6^(7–4), 6–3
2020	John Peers Michael Venus	Raven Klaasen Oliver Marach	6–3, 6–2

Women's doubles

Liezel Huber (2007–09, 2011–12) is the most successful player in women's doubles, with five titles in Dubai.

Year	Champions	Runners-up	Score
↓  Premier tournament   ↓
2001	Yayuk Basuki Caroline Vis	Åsa Svensson Karina Habšudová	6–0, 4–6, 6–2
2002	Barbara Rittner María Vento-Kabchi	Sandrine Testud Roberta Vinci	6–3, 6–2
2003	Svetlana Kuznetsova Martina Navratilova	Cara Black Elena Likhovtseva	6–3, 7–6^(9–7)
2004	Janette Husárová Conchita Martínez	Svetlana Kuznetsova Elena Likhovtseva	6–0, 1–6, 6–3
2005	Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez	Svetlana Kuznetsova Alicia Molik	6–7^(7–9), 6–2, 6–1
2006	Květa Peschke Francesca Schiavone	Svetlana Kuznetsova Nadia Petrova	3–6, 7–6^(7–1), 6–3
2007	Cara Black Liezel Huber	Svetlana Kuznetsova Alicia Molik	7–6^(8–6), 6–4
2008	Cara Black (2) Liezel Huber (2)	Zheng Jie Yan Zi	7–5, 6–2
↓  Premier 5 tournament   ↓
2009	Cara Black (3) Liezel Huber (3)	Maria Kirilenko Agnieszka Radwańska	6–3, 6–3
2010	Nuria Llagostera Vives María José Martínez Sánchez	Květa Peschke Katarina Srebotnik	7–6^(7–5), 6–4
2011	Liezel Huber (4) María José Martínez Sánchez (2)	Květa Peschke Katarina Srebotnik	7–6^(7–5), 6–3
↓  Premier tournament   ↓
2012	Liezel Huber (5) Lisa Raymond	Sania Mirza Elena Vesnina	6–2, 6–1
2013	Bethanie Mattek-Sands Sania Mirza	Nadia Petrova Katarina Srebotnik	6–4, 2–6, [10–7]
2014	Alla Kudryavtseva Anastasia Rodionova	Raquel Kops-Jones Abigail Spears	6–2, 5–7, [10–8]
↓  Premier 5 tournament   ↓
2015	Tímea Babos Kristina Mladenovic	Garbiñe Muguruza Carla Suárez Navarro	6–3, 6–2
↓  Premier tournament   ↓
2016	Chuang Chia-jung Darija Jurak	Caroline Garcia Kristina Mladenovic	6–4, 6–4
↓  Premier 5 tournament   ↓
2017	Ekaterina Makarova Elena Vesnina	Andrea Hlaváčková Peng Shuai	6–2, 4–6, [10–7]
↓  Premier tournament   ↓
2018	Chan Hao-ching Yang Zhaoxuan	Hsieh Su-wei Peng Shuai	4–6, 6–2, [10–6]
↓  Premier 5 tournament   ↓
2019	Hsieh Su-wei Barbora Strýcová	Lucie Hradecká Ekaterina Makarova	6–4, 6–4
↓  Premier tournament   ↓
2020	Hsieh Su-wei (2) Barbora Strýcová (2)	Barbora Krejčíková Zheng Saisai	7–5, 3–6, [10–5]

References

1. "Scaffold stands, creaking boards, and wrong-facing courts: The inaugural Dubai Tennis Championships". The National. Retrieved 2018-05-28.
2. "Dubaï, nouveau hub du sport mondial". Le Temps (in French). Retrieved 2018-09-06.
3. "Dubai faces censure over Peer ban". BBC Sport. 2009-02-17. Retrieved 2009-02-17.
4. Mondays With Bob Greene: We do not wish to politicize sports Archived 2009-02-26 at the Wayback Machine
5. http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1242212395267&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull%5B%5D
6. "Dubai given record fine over Peer". BBC News. February 20, 2009. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
7. "WTA fines Dubai; Roddick withdraws". ESPN.

External links

• ATP tournament profile
• Official website
• Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships - Dubai Events Official Listings