Arab Star Ons Jabeur Fights Through Pain, But Comes Up Short as Peyton Stearns Progresses to Second Round

Tunisian enjoyed strong support on Centre Court at Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, yet despite taking lead in her first-round tie, a thigh injury and general fatigue hampered her chances

‘I didn’t want to just retire,’ says Arab No1 Jabeur, who was appearing in Dubai for first time since 2022 as emirate celebrates 25 years anniversary of its WTA event

Dubai, UAE – February 17, 2025: Arab icon Ons Jabeur let a lead slip and grimaced in pain as she crashed out of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Monday night, falling in the first round to American Peyton Stearns, 6-7(6), 4-6, in front of a vocal Centre Court crowd.

Tunisian Jabeur, a former World No2 who became the first Arab to reach a Grand Slam final when she progressed to the title match at Wimbledon three years ago, had been forced to miss the past two editions of the Dubai tournament through injury. Yet she was determined to be part of this year’s line up, which marks the landmark 25th anniversary of the women’s event in the emirate.

Enjoying strong support inside the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium with a series of Tunisian flags dotted among the crowd, the three-time Grand Slam finalist raced into the lead, breaking Stearns in the American’s first service game. Yet she was unable to capitalise and allowed her opponent–ranked 14 places below her at World No46–back into the tie after serving a double-fault on a breakpoint in the fourth game.

Jabeur even managed to break again and found herself serving for the first set, but failed to close it out, throwing her racquet at the ground in anger. During a tight tie-break, another double-fault saw Jabeur hand Stearns the momentum at 5-6 and the American went on to convert her first set-point to claim a tight opener.

“Peyton is a really good player,” Jabeur said. “We practice a lot together, more last year and the year before, but yeah, she’s a tough opponent. She has a lot to improve for sure, but I see her in a much better ranking than this. I wish her all the best for the future. She handled moments very well during the match and hope she can make it very far.”

Jabeur is a resident of Dubai and is one of the most popular players in a field stacked with 36 of the top 40 women this week. Understandably then, despite calling a medical timeout to assess her left thigh, she was keen to battle on, saving three breakpoints in the opening exchanges of the second set. It wasn’t enough though and despite showing the fight for which she has grown renowned, her service was broken in the third game and Stearns held on to complete a straight sets win.

“It was pretty tough today,” admitted Jabeur, who arrived in Dubai after quarterfinal runs in both Abu Dhabi and Doha in the past fortnight. “I wasn’t 100 per cent, obviously. I didn’t think I had enough time to recover from both tournaments, but I was there, trying my best. I didn’t want to just retire. I wanted to try more and see how it went.”

On her thigh issue, she added: “It’s nothing really serious. I just wasn’t feeling 100 per cent physically. I feel I’ve been tired; I haven’t been sleeping as well as I was hoping to be sleeping. It was difficult to really recover from Abu Dhabi, Doha, and now to come here. I felt it was like a long tour for me. I was hoping to really play good here, but unfortunately it wasn’t the case.”

For her part, Stearns–making only her second appearance in the emirate–stood up to the challenge when it mattered most to claim an 11th career win against a top-50 player. She will face another tough test on Tuesday when she comes up against No7 seed Zheng Qinwen of China.

“I’m super happy with myself that I stayed in the match,” said Stearns. “I fought hard, dug deep, and all that good stuff. Ons is a great player and also a great person. It’s never fun playing those kind of people, but I knew I would need to play well against her.”

Earlier in the day, No13 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia was eliminated by Anastasia Potapova 3-6, 0-6 before No10 seed Daria Kasatkina also lost 1-6, 6-4 to Romanian wildcard Sorana Cirstea. Jelena Ostapenko – winner here in 2022 – slipped out too in the first round, with Japanese qualifier Moyuka Uchijima claiming a memorable 6-3, 6-3 win.

Tuesday will see the eight top seeds get their Dubai 2025 campaigns underway, with all four of the world’s top four players in action on Centre Court. Reigning Dubai champion Jasmine Paolini meets German qualifier Eva Lys in the day’s first match, before World No2 Iga Swiatek faces Victoria Azarenka and No3 seed Coco Gauff takes on fellow American McCartney Kessler. World No1 Aryna Sabalenka will be the last match of the day, when she meets 2022 finalist Veronika Kudermetova.

The 25th edition of the annual WTA 1000 event is running until February 22, before the 33rd staging of Dubai’s ATP Tour 500 tournament takes place from February 24 to March 1. Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships is owned and organised by Dubai Duty Free and held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Tickets are available online at Ticketmaster and dubaidutyfreetennischampionships.com and directly from the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium Box Office from 9am-9pm daily.