Tournament History

Czech Karel Novacek wins the singles title with the Australian-Swedish pairing of Jarryd/John Fitzgerald claiming the inaugural doubles title.

Swede Magnus Gustaffson defeated clay court specialist, Sergi Brugera in the final of the second Dubai Tennis Championships. Mark Woodford & Todd Woodbridge, who later went on to become a legendary doubles partnership, were crowned the second winners of the doubles championships.

South African Wayne Ferreira won the singles title , defeating Italian Andrea Gaudenzi 6-3, 6-3 in the final. Later in his career. Ferreira went on to hold the record for the most consecutive Grand Slam appearances in men’s tennis, competing in 56 consecutive Grand Slams between 1991 and 2004..

This record was later broken by dynamic Frenchman Fabrice Santoro – another winner of the Dubai Tennis Championships.

The charismatic Croat Goran Ivanisevic won the fourth Dubai Men’s title. Ivanisevic later went on to win the Wimbledon Men’s title in 2001 before retiring three years later.

Alex Corretja became the first Spaniard  to claim the Dubai singles mantle, dismissing compatriot Felix Mantilla in straight  sets in the final.

Frenchman Jerome Golmard defeated Nicolas Kiefer at the expense of only six games to win the singles crown.

The previous year’s finalist, Nicolas Kiefer, fared better this year by winning the title with a tight three-set win over Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final.

Fabrice Santoro, best known for his impressive arsenal of trick shots, made his way through the draw to win the Men’s draw, defeating the Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui – the first Arab to play a title match at the Dubai Tennis Championships – in a tight final.

Amelie Mauresmo, who has recently announced her retirement from the sport, made it a successful tournament for the French players, by winning the second-ever Dubai WTA tournament. The former Australian Open and Wimbledon Champion beat fellow French Sandrine Testud to win the title.

The mighty Roger Federer won the first of his four Dubai singles titles this year, by beating Czech Jiri Novak in the final.

Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne also won the first of her four Dubai titles this year, defeating former WTA World No.1 Monica Seles in a tightly-fought final.

Roger Federer made it a hat trick of Dubai titles by beating Croat Ivan Ljubicicin a three-set final.

In the Women’s week, Lindsay Davenport became the first American to win the title with a deciding set victory over then rising star Jelena Jancovic from Serbia.

Roger Federer reiterated his love of playing in at the Dubai Tennis Championships by winning back the trophy from rival Rafael Nadal. The Swiss defeated Russian Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 6-3 in the final.

The Belgian, now Justine Henin also lifted the WTA trophy for the fourth time beating former champion Amelie Mauresmo in two close sets.

Popular American and former Grand Slam winner, Andy Roddick won his first ATP Dubai Men’s title in the newly-named Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.

Russian Elena Dementieva beat fellow Russian, Svetlana Kuznetsova in the WTA final to win her maiden Dubai title.

The 10th anniversary of the Women’s event was marked by one of the greatest players of all time, Venus Williams, successfully defending her title. Meanwhile the men’s event was able to celebrate its 18th birthday with one of the most dramatic finals in its history, as Novak Djokovic fought off a valiant challenge from Mikhail Youzhny to also retain his title.

At the same time, the tournament celebrated yet another success after being named the 2009 ATP World Tour 500 Tournament of the Year. Remarkably, it was also the tournament’s 14th ATP award since 1993 – the tournament’s inaugural year – and the sixth time that the Dubai men’s week has won the prestigious “Tournament of the Year” award.

The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships was once again a resounding success with capacity crowds, scintillating action and entertainment second to none both on and off the court. The 2011 event which was the 19th running of the men’s tournament and the 11th of the women’s attracted some of the top names in the game with women’s number one and two. Caroline Wozniacki and Vera Zvonarava as well as then men’s number two and three. Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic all taking part along with the likes of former world number ones Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic and the Top 10-ranked Tomas Berdych and Mikhail Youzhny.

The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships which celebrated its 22nd anniversary this year attracted the top tennis players in the world which saw Venus Williams, winning  the ladies’ week, while Roger Federer won his sixth Dubai title.

At the end of two weeks of spectacular tennis which attracted over 115,000 spectators, two former champions again held the trophies aloft. Venus Williams won her third Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships title when she convincingly triumphed over Alize Cornet. While in a sensational end to the men’s tournament Roger Federer won a remarkable sixth crown defeating Tomas Berdych in a tight tussle.

In the doubles Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia and Anastacia Rodionova of Australia defeated USA pair of Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears to claim their first Dubai title, and the men’s double was won by Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi over Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic.

One of the highlights of the fortnight was when the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships was awarded the ATP 500 Tournament of the Year Award for 2013, for an unprecedented and remarkable 10th time since 2003. The presentation was made on the Centre Court by defending champion Novak Djokovic and Alison Lee – ATP Executive Vice President International Group.

Sara Errani overwhelmed Barbora Strycova 6-0 6-2 to win her first Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships title. Her victory came after she finished as runner-up to Petra Kvitova in 2013 and she dominated the most one-sided final in the 16 years of the WTA event.

The first Italian winner of the event won nearly two-thirds of the points and faced just one break point, but she still needed five match points to close out the match as Strycova desperately tried to stave off her inevitable defeat.

The doubles title went to the unseeded pair of Chia-Jung Chuang and Darija Jurak, who saved five match points in Friday’s semi-finals before claiming a 6-4 6-4 victory over second seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic.

Stan Wawrinka held off a valiant challenge from Marcos Baghdatis to win 6-4 7-6 (13).  It was Wawrinka’s 13th career title, his second of the year and the win was his ninth straight triumph in a final, while Baghdatis remains without a title since he won Sydney in 2010.

The Swiss second seed and world number four dropped his serve just once in the first set and neither player earned a break point as the second set progressed to a dramatic tiebreak. It was then then that the momentum repeatedly swung one way and then the other, as unseeded Baghdatis held five set points before Wawrinka  finally claimed victory on his fourth match point.

Feliciano Lopez was denied compensation for his defeat in the singles semi-finals as he teamed with Marc Lopez for the doubles final, but the pair failed to take advantage of two match points as Italians Simone Bolelli and Andreas Seppi won 6-2 3-6 14-12 in their first final together.

Elina Svitolina claimed the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships title with a hard-fought 6-4 6-2 win over Caroline Wozniacki. Not only did Svitolina win the biggest title of her career, but the victory elevated her into the top 10 for the first time.

Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina claimed the doubles title with a 6-2 4-6 10-7 victory over Andrea Hlavackova and Peng Shuai. The champions were playing their second final of the year after finishing as runners-up in Brisbane, and their titles last year included both the Olympics and WTA Finals.

Andy Murray became the first British champion at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships as he defeated Fernando Verdasco 6-3 6-2, and his win comes after he finished as runner-up to Roger Federer in Dubai in 2012.

Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau claimed the doubles title with a 4-6 6-3  10-3  win over Rohan Bopanna and Marcin Matkowski. It is their 13th title together, which includes both Wimbledon and the ATP World Tour Finals in 2015.

Elina Svitolina successfully defended her Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships title with a dominating 6-4 6-0 win over Daria Kasatkina. It is the second time she has defended a title, after winning in Baku in 2013 and 2014. Svitolina is the third player in the 18-year history of the WTA event to successfully defend her title, after Justine Henin in 2004 and Venus Williams in 2010.

The WTA doubles title went to the unseeded pair of Hao-Ching Chan and Zhaoxuan Yang, who defeated 4th seeds Su-Wei Hsieh and Shuai Peng 4-6 6-2 10-6.

Roberto Bautista Agut defeated second seeded Lucas Pouille 6-3 6-4 to win his first Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships title. He is the fourth Spaniard to win the tournament after Alex Corretja, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Rafael Nadal.

In the doubles final, defending champions and number two seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau defeated the unseeded pair of Jamie Cerretani and two-time former champion Leander Paes 6-2 7-6 (2). Rojer and Tecau are the first team to retain the ATP doubles title in the tournament’s 26 year history. Paes won the title in 1998 and 2003 and also finished as runner-up in 2004 and 2010, and was seeking his second title in two outings with Cerretani after they won an ATP Challenger last month.

World No.1 Novak Djokovic has been crowned Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships winner for the fifth time with a commanding 6-3 6-4 victory over second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.

It was the first men’s final between the top two seeds in Dubai since 2015, and Tsitsipas was denied the title for the second straight year after falling to Roger Federer in the 2019 final. It was also the fifth Dubai final in tournament history between the top two seeds, but the first time that the top seed has won the contest.

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Top seed Simona Halep defeated Elena Rybakina 3-6 6-3 7-6(5) to claim her second Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships title. It was arguably the most dramatic final in the history of the women’s event and a fitting end to the 20th anniversary celebrations of the tournament hosting the WTA Tour.

In what proved to be an exciting week of ups and downs, Halep saved a match point in her opening match against Ons Jabeur, fought back from a set down to defeat Aryna Sabalenka and then produced a near flawless performance against Jennifer Brady in the semi-finals, before bringing her week to a dramatic conclusion on Saturday night.

Aslan Karatsev defeated qualifier Lloyd Harris 6-3 6-2 in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Saturday to claim the first ATP Tour title of his career. He is the first Russian to win the prestigious title, after Marat Safin in 2001 and Mikhail Youzhny in 2007 and 2010 both finished as runner-up, and it is the first time since the series started in 2009 that a wild card and a qualifier were meeting in an ATP 500 final.

The doubles final featured four of the top five players in the world, with the title going to top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah who defeated second seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic 7-6(0) 7-6(4). It is their first title since they won the US Open in 2019.

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Garbine Muguruza ended the gallant run of Barbora Krejcikova in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Saturday, beating her 7-6(6) 6-3 to claim the eighth title of her career.

The past three finals have also featured one unseeded player, with Daria Kasatkina in 2018 and Elena Rybakina in 2020 also finishing as runner-up, and with Belinda Bencic winning the title in 2019.

The doubles title was claimed by Alexa Guarachi and Darija Jurak, who overwhelmed Yifan Xu and Zhaoxuan Yang 6-0 6-3 in just 53 minutes. Jurak is a previous champion at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, claiming the title in 2016, while Yang was attempting to repeat her 2018 Dubai success.

Andrey Rublev ended the inspiring run of qualifier Jiri Vesely 6-3 6-4 in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Saturday to win his second title in two weeks.

The doubles final saw Tim Puetz and Michael Venus needing almost two hours to overcome Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic 6-3 6-7 16-14. It was the second Dubai title for Venus after he won in 2020 with John Peers, and the second straight year that Mektic and Pavic finished as runners-up.

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Jelena Ostapenko capped a magnificent week by defeating Veronika Kudermetova 6-0 6-4 on Saturday to claim the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships trophy.

The pair then returned to court to face each other again in the doubles final, with Ostapenko partnering Lyudmyla Kichenok and second seeded Veronika Kudermetova teaming with Elise Mertens.

Kudermetova received some consolation for her singles defeat as the Australian Open semi-finalists beat Kichenok and Ostapenko 6-1 6-3.

Daniil Medvedev wrapped up a remarkable Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships with a dominant display over close friend and defending champion Andrey Rublev to claim a maiden title 6-2 6-2 on the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium’s storied Centre Court

In doubles, Maxime Cressy, from the USA, and Fabrice Martin, of France, capped a fine week with a polished performance against No.3 seeds Lloyd Glasspool, of the UK, and Harri Heliovaara, of Finland, to secure a well-deserved Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships doubles title in their first tournament together.

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Barbora Krejcikova capped a thrilling WTA 1000 week at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships with a stunning victory over Iga Swiatek in Saturday night’s final at Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium.

Roared on by a packed Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium, Krejcikova triumphed 6-4, 6-2 in just 91 minutes to seal her first Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships title. Krejcikova’s brutal dismantling of Switeak, the World No.1 and top seed in Dubai, followed victories over World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka and World No.3 Jessica Pegula en route to the final.

Earlier on Centre Court, Veronika Kudermetova and Liudmila Samsonova secured victory over Taiwanese duo Hao-Ching Chan and Latisha Chan in a pulsating Doubles final that thrilled the capacity crowd. Triumphing 6-4, 6-7, 10-1, big-serving Kudermetova and Samsonova survived losing a second set tiebreak to power home in the match tiebreak.