Ons Jabeur said she hoped for more noisy local support after setting up a box office quarter-final against top seed and defending champion Elena Rybakina at the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open.
Jabeur outgunned 17-year-old qualifier Sonobe Wakana 6-3, 6-3 to earn a showdown with the 25-year-old Kazakh Rybakina at the International Tennis Centre at Zayed Sports City on Thursday.
“It's going to be a very tough match, definitely an entertaining one, so please come watch us. It's going to be a great match from both of us. Maybe 80 per cent for me, 20 per cent for her, cheering,” said Jabeur after her second-round win.
“I know she loves playing here on this court. I'm just trying to do my best and try to focus on myself and what I can do better. She's an unbelievable player. She has a great serve and hits really hard.”
Jabeur, 30, wasn’t tested by Wakana quite as she was in her first-round match against Jelena Ostapenko, but the Japanese teenager still managed to give a good account of herself against the Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist.
“I think every match is different. I think my emotions are always tougher playing someone that is hard like [Ostapenko] to show who I really am, and not get my stress or whatever gets in the way,” Jabeur said. “And yes, today I felt [good] again, and I feel really good even though I am playing someone that is young.
“[Wakana] is still young and playing that way. I'm sure she will gain more experience and know how to win in a certain situation."
Earlier, Rybakina rallied from a set down to defeat Katie Volynets to book her spot in the last eight. The Kazakh dropped the opening set to the American but bounced back to clinch the next two and the match 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 to set up a showdown with Jabeur.
“It was a really tough match and happy that I managed to win,” the Russian-born Kazakh said in her post-match interview. “I was struggling a bit with opportunities in the first set, but overall happy to get through because that first set was very challenging, very close in the second as well.
“I was just trying to focus on each point because the conditions are quite slow, so I cannot really hit a winner. I knew that the rallies are going to be difficult, and I was just trying to focus on myself."
Belinda Bencic breezed into the last eight with a crushing 6-0, 6-0 victory over Veronika Kudermetova in the opening game of the day.
“I was expecting a tough match. I think Veronika is a tough opponent. So, I was surprised, but also, I felt like some games, especially in the start, were hard fought. It wasn't as one way as the score suggests,” Bencic said.
The 2023 winner of the Abu Dhabi Open and gold medallist at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Bencic is improving with every game since returning to the circuit from maternity leave in October.
“I'm so happy to play here again,” she added. “I have great memories and Abu Dhabi was on my schedule for this year. So, I'm very happy that I could play here and for the support from the fans.”
Bencic will meet Marketa Vondrousova, who came through with a straight sets 6-2, 6-3 victory over the fourth seed Yulia Putintseva.
Thursday's quarter-finals (from 1pm)
M. Vondrousova v B. Bencic
L. Fernandez (8) v A. Krueger
E. Rybakina (1) v O. Jabeur
M. Linette v L. Noskova
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The bio
Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.
Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.
Best part of life in the UAE: The weather. The constant sunshine is amazing and there is always something to do, you have so many options when it comes to how to spend your day.
Favourite holiday destination: Malaysia. I went there for my honeymoon and ended up volunteering to teach local children for a few hours each day. It is such a special place and I plan to retire there one day.
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Director: Scott Cooper
Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Odessa Young, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 4/5
BULKWHIZ PROFILE
Date started: February 2017
Founders: Amira Rashad (CEO), Yusuf Saber (CTO), Mahmoud Sayedahmed (adviser), Reda Bouraoui (adviser)
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: E-commerce
Size: 50 employees
Funding: approximately $6m
Investors: Beco Capital, Enabling Future and Wain in the UAE; China's MSA Capital; 500 Startups; Faith Capital and Savour Ventures in Kuwait
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
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