Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships Round-up

© Getty ImagesVenus Williams

Two new champions were crowned at the $4 million Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships 2009

Two new champions were crowned at the $4 million Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships 2009, with Venus Williams taking the women’s title and Novak Djokovic winning the men’s.

Some might have thought it was long overdue for a Williams to win here. After all, they had laid claim to almost everything else there was to win, even the Olympics. But, up until 2009, the best they had been able to do in Dubai was reach the semi-finals.

That is still the best that world number one Serena has managed, but Venus finally added a Dubai title to her long list of achievements after defeating surprise finalist Virginie Razzano 6-4 6-2.

“This year’s women’s tournament saw our best line-up to-date, leading into a men’s event which was wide open, making it one of the most unpredictable and exciting championships so far,” said Colm McLoughlin, Managing Director of tournament owners and organisers Dubai Duty Free. “It was a remarkable tournament with such a wide array of interesting action – from Virgine Razzano’s run all the way to the final, to Fabrice Santoro’s final efforts at a tournament he won back in 2002.”

Who would have believed, with nine of the world’s top ten women entered, that a player ranked 58 in the world would make it all the way through the draw. But that is what 25-year-old Frenchwoman Razzano did, in what became the most successful week of her career. She upset world number two Dinara Safina in the second round, then she beat Daniela Hantuchova before defeating world number five Vera Zvonareva to reach the semi-finals. It was there that she blitzed 16th seed Kaia Kanepi 6-1 6-2 to reach the final without dropping a set, before enjoying a competitive battle with Venus. No wonder she was thrilled.

"This week is the best week of my career,” said Razzano. “I think I played well again. I felt a good connection with the crowd. They warmed to me and it was great."

Along with Safina, Jelena Jankovic suffered an early defeat, playing what she described as the worst match of her career to slump 6-2 7-5 against Kanepi in the third round. And 2008 runner-up Svetlana Kuznetsova also had a week to forget as she fell 6-4 3-6 6-0 in her opening match to Russian qualifier Elena Vesnina. Vesnina then went on to reach the quarter-finals when 12th seed Dominika Cibulkova retired against her with illness when down 4-0 in the final set. Kanepi eventually stopped her progress.

Serena struggled at first in her opening match before beating Sara Errani in three sets, and then she defeated Wimbledon semi-finalist Jie Zheng to set up a meeting with eighth seed Ana Ivanovic. That turned out to be one of the best matches of the week, with a furiously-contested battle ending 6-4 6-4 to the American.

That set up an eagerly anticipated clash with Venus. The elder sister had progressed serenely through the draw, dropping just one game in her opening match, beating 10th seed Alize Cornet and then dismissing defending champion Elena Dementieva 6-3 6-3. The match against her sister provided great entertainment for the sell-out crowd, with Serena barely competing in the first set as she struggled with her serve, but then playing a full part in a tremendous match that ended in a dramatic final set tiebreak. Now Venus is looking forward to defending her title in 2010.

“I think they do an excellent job with this tournament,” said Venus after the final. “They really do care about making a great event and care about the players. There is a difference here. It makes you enjoy the tournament and want to come back. I would definitely love to defend my title next year. I feel good about coming back.”

Dementieva was also thrilled that she had returned, even though she was unable to hold on to her title.

“I think it’s great to have some tournaments here and for me as a player it’s very interesting to be here and to know a little bit about a different culture,” she said. “And I think also for the people who live here, to be able to watch top tennis here, it looks like people are really following the sport and enjoy watching tennis. I hope it’s going to be a good example for kids, you know, maybe they’re going to take a racquet and try to practise or become a professional tennis player.”

As the women left town the men moved in, and the first round saw two minor upsets as the number seven and eight seeds failed to progress. Seventh was the lanky Croat Ivo Karlovic, who fell to Swiss qualifier Marco Chiudinelli, and eighth was the former world number one and two-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin, who had been given a wild card. He lost in three sets to Richard Gasquet, who was ranked just one place below him.

Although the other six seeds progressed, only two did so in comfort, with Djokovic and Igor Andreev winning in straight sets. But Marin Cilic, Gilles Simon, David Ferrer and Andy Murray were all taken to three, with Murray progressing when his opponent, Sergiy Stakhovsky retired two points from defeat with an ankle injury.

All those six seeds also won their second round matches, but the strength of the field resulting in Djokovic, Cilic and Andreev all being taken to three sets. This time Simon, Ferrer and Murray won comfortably. Gasquet, having beaten Safin, took over three hours to get past Simone Bolelli, winning 7-6 in the third.

Another who won 7-6 in the third was Fabrice Santoro. The talented Frenchman, known as The Magician because of the astonishing shots he often pulls out of the hat, competed in the final of the very first Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships back in 1993, losing to Czech Karol Novacek. Then, 10 years later, he won the title with an astonishing win over Younes El Aynaoui. Astonishing, because a couple of hours before the final Santoro was in hospital, in a wheelchair, sick and seemingly unable to play. He returned to his hotel and showered, and that gave him enough energy to decide that he would at least try to begin the match.

After defeat by Simon ended his 17-year Dubai career in the quarter-finals, fittingly on centre court, Santoro was presented with a model of a traditional Arabian dhow, and then he spoke of his memories of playing one of his favourite tournaments.

“I think 2002, that's the main memory, because I remember that year I was playing very good tennis and I reached the final,” Santoro said. “And then the next 24 hours before the final was a tragic situation because I was feeling so bad. I was really, really sick, as sick as I've ever been in my life. Just a half hour before the match I thought I wouldn't be able to go on the court, but I went out there and two hours later I came out with the trophy.

“When I came here in ‘93, Dubai was a brand new city and it was a brand new tournament. I have seen the place grow for 17 years. In 1993 it was only the second final of my career, and the first one in a big tournament, so it was something special for me. I remember that week. I was curious to come here. Not many (top) players came. They were not sure what they were going to see here. But for me it was always a pleasure to come, and the tournament has become one of the best in the world. Every player knows that Dubai is a tournament that you have to play - everybody wants to play here now.”

So to the quarter-finals, and now all the seeds were progressing in straight sets. Well, almost all. Simon beat Santoro, Djokovic dismissed Cilic and Ferrer defeated Andreev. Murray? He was supposed to play an eagerly anticipated match against Gasquet, who had won the first two sets against the Scot at Wimbledon before losing in five. But the number two seed was suffering from a virus which first attacked him at the Australian Open, and he was forced to default the match.

The semis saw quite a contrast, as Djokovic had to battle for two hours 44-minutes in blazing sunshine to overcome Simon 3-6 7-5 7-5, while Ferrer was able to breeze past Gasquet 6-2 6-2 in just 75 minutes in the evening match. And so to the final, and the tournament ended on a dramatic note when Djokovic fired what he thought was an ace on match point. It was called wide, but an appeal to Hawkeye proved he was correct and he took the match, and the Championship, 7-5 6-3.

“Physically, and mentally, I was really involved in this tournament, especially from quarterfinals on,” said the delighted Djokovic. “In that semifinal, I had to fight my way through even though I played during the day, which I didn't experience in the first three matches here. It's quite different for me.

“But I was really proud of myself - I got to the finals and I had nothing to lose.”