Ons Jabeur built on her encouraging early season form by clinching her biggest win for many months as she upset the No 7 seed Zheng Qinwen at the Qatar Open on Tuesday night.
The former world No 2 has showed signs of getting back to her best during the Middle East swing, defeating Jelena Ostapenko and pushing Elena Rybakina to a final set breaker in Abu Dhabi last week.
The Tunisian again looked in good touch as she landed her first victory over a top-10 player since last April, proving a worthy winner 6-4, 6-2 over Zheng in Doha.
Jabeur warmed to the task as the match progressed – winning 11 of the final 14 games – and then admitted that the confidence was flowing as she soaked up the plaudits from the crowd.
“There was a lot of believing in myself in preparing for this match,” said Jabeur, who will next face 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in the last 16 on Wednesday.
“That definitely helped. I tried to stay as focused as I can. It's very tough to play against her; she's a champion. So, I'm very pleased with this win, and I hope I can keep performing even better for the future.”
Meanwhile, Coco Gauff suffered a surprise early exit with a straight-sets defeat to Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk.
Former US Open champion Gauff blew a healthy advantage in the second set as Kostyuk sealed a 6-2, 7-5 victory and a third-round meeting with the winner of an all-Polish tie between Magda Linette and Magdalena Frech.
“Coco is an incredible fighter,” Kostyuk said. “We always have incredible matches. I tried to stick to what I had to do.”
Gauff, playing for the first time since a quarter-final loss to Paula Badosa at the Australian Open on January 21, served seven double-faults and made 39 unforced errors in an erratic display.
The American made a terrible start, slipping 4-1 behind after dropping her serve twice. Gauff was broken again in the eighth game as Kostyuk secured the first set in just half an hour.
The world No 3 hit back with a break en route to a 4-2 lead in the second set as she started to find her rhythm.
But Kostyuk battled back, taking advantage of an error-strewn Gauff performance which ended when she served two double-faults to be broken for the fifth time.
“The double-faults made it easier for me … I'm very happy that it ended in two sets,” Kostyuk said.
Rybakina, who lost to eventual winner Belinda Bencic in the Abu Dhabi semi-finals last week, saw off Payton Stearns in her opening match.
The fifth seed cruised to a 6-2, 6-4 win despite a late wobble to set up a third-round tie against Slovakia's Rebecca Sramkova who beat Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Rybakina led 5-0 in the second set but missed three match points to take it 6-0 and then briefly fell apart as Stearns dragged the set back on serve.
The former Wimbledon champion belatedly got over the line on her fifth match point.
Jasmine Paolini, last year's French Open and Wimbledon runner-up, also made a winning start to her campaign with a 6-3, 6-4 victory against Caroline Garcia in the second round.
Czech youngster Linda Noskova earned a last-16 tie against three-time defending champion Iga Swiatek with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva.
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
The Details
Kabir Singh
Produced by: Cinestaan Studios, T-Series
Directed by: Sandeep Reddy Vanga
Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Suresh Oberoi, Soham Majumdar, Arjun Pahwa
Rating: 2.5/5
Where to donate in the UAE
The Emirates Charity Portal
You can donate to several registered charities through a “donation catalogue”. The use of the donation is quite specific, such as buying a fan for a poor family in Niger for Dh130.
The General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments
The site has an e-donation service accepting debit card, credit card or e-Dirham, an electronic payment tool developed by the Ministry of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Al Noor Special Needs Centre
You can donate online or order Smiles n’ Stuff products handcrafted by Al Noor students. The centre publishes a wish list of extras needed, starting at Dh500.
Beit Al Khair Society
Beit Al Khair Society has the motto “From – and to – the UAE,” with donations going towards the neediest in the country. Its website has a list of physical donation sites, but people can also contribute money by SMS, bank transfer and through the hotline 800-22554.
Dar Al Ber Society
Dar Al Ber Society, which has charity projects in 39 countries, accept cash payments, money transfers or SMS donations. Its donation hotline is 800-79.
Dubai Cares
Dubai Cares provides several options for individuals and companies to donate, including online, through banks, at retail outlets, via phone and by purchasing Dubai Cares branded merchandise. It is currently running a campaign called Bookings 2030, which allows people to help change the future of six underprivileged children and young people.
Emirates Airline Foundation
Those who travel on Emirates have undoubtedly seen the little donation envelopes in the seat pockets. But the foundation also accepts donations online and in the form of Skywards Miles. Donated miles are used to sponsor travel for doctors, surgeons, engineers and other professionals volunteering on humanitarian missions around the world.
Emirates Red Crescent
On the Emirates Red Crescent website you can choose between 35 different purposes for your donation, such as providing food for fasters, supporting debtors and contributing to a refugee women fund. It also has a list of bank accounts for each donation type.
Gulf for Good
Gulf for Good raises funds for partner charity projects through challenges, like climbing Kilimanjaro and cycling through Thailand. This year’s projects are in partnership with Street Child Nepal, Larchfield Kids, the Foundation for African Empowerment and SOS Children's Villages. Since 2001, the organisation has raised more than $3.5 million (Dh12.8m) in support of over 50 children’s charities.
Noor Dubai Foundation
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Noor Dubai Foundation a decade ago with the aim of eliminating all forms of preventable blindness globally. You can donate Dh50 to support mobile eye camps by texting the word “Noor” to 4565 (Etisalat) or 4849 (du).
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
