PARIS // Novak Djokovic extended his perfect start to the season at the French Open, beating Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 for his 40th straight victory this year.
Djokovic has not lost in 42 matches dating to last year's Davis Cup final. He and Del Potro returned to Court Suzanne Lenglen today after splitting the first two sets last night before the match was suspended because of fading light.
The world No 2 had no problems against Del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion, once play resumed. He had 41 winners to Del Potro's 22 and had four of his five breaks in the final two sets.
Rafael Nadal also appeared to put his struggles behind him, advancing to the fourth round with a 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 win over the Croatian qualifier Antonio Veic. the Australian Open runners-up Andy Murray and Li Na also advanced.
Later today, three-time grand slam champion Maria Sharapova was scheduled to be on court.
Djokovic's 40-0 start to 2011 is the second-best opening streak in the Open era, which started in 1968. The two-time grand slam champion's overall winning streak of 42 trails only to the record of 46 set by Guillermo Vilas in 1977.
Djokovic entered the French Open after beating Nadal in two clay court finals, making him a favourite for his first French Open title. The Serb will be guaranteed to take over the No 1 ranking if he makes the final.
In the next round, Djokovic will face the No 13 Richard Gasquet of France.
Nadal, who needed five sets to win his opening match at Roland Garros, had only 18 unforced errors and managed to break his opponent nine times.
The five-time French Open champion has been dominant at Roland Garros since his debut in 2005, when he won the first of four straight titles. His only loss at the clay court grand slam came in 2009, when he was defeated by Robin Soderling in the fourth round, giving him a 41-1 record at the tournament.
But Nadal started off slowly this year, needing five sets to beat John Isner. In the second-round, Nadal looked shaky in defeating Pablo Andujar 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
"I did a few things much better than the previous days. Happy for that," Nadal said. "Just the beginning of the second, for moments of the second set, I had a few more mistakes. But for the rest of the match, I think I started to have better control of the ball."
Murray moved into the next round despite twisting his right ankle in the second set against Michael Berrer. The No 4 seed called for a trainer and had his ankle taped before returning to the court. He broke his German opponent on the next point and went on to a 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 victory.
Berrer said he failed to take advantage of the situation.
"That was a very big chance. I think a chance like this you get maybe once in your life," Berrer said. "I should have hurt him when he's down, but that's difficult for me."
Murray will next face Victor Troicki of Serbia, who beat the No 21 Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina reached the fourth round by defeating Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5).
In the women's draw, the No 6 seed Li, who this year became the first Chinese player to get to the final at a major tournament, defeated Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-2, 6-2 and will next play the No 9 seed Petra Kvitova. Li has made at least the quarter-finals at the other three grand slam tournaments, but she has never progressed past the fourth round at Roland Garros.
Kvitova defeated Vania King of the United States 6-4, 6-2, while Ekaterina Makarova of Russia eliminated No 16 Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6-4, 7-5. Fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus also advanced, beating No 30 Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-3, 6-2.
"I think I can improve, and I have been improving from match to match, which is important," Azarenka said. "Probably could do things better, but I have time to work on and prepare for the next match."
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The design
The protective shell is covered in solar panels to make use of light and produce energy. This will drastically reduce energy loss.
More than 80 per cent of the energy consumed by the French pavilion will be produced by the sun.
The architecture will control light sources to provide a highly insulated and airtight building.
The forecourt is protected from the sun and the plants will refresh the inner spaces.
A micro water treatment plant will recycle used water to supply the irrigation for the plants and to flush the toilets. This will reduce the pavilion’s need for fresh water by 30 per cent.
Energy-saving equipment will be used for all lighting and projections.
Beyond its use for the expo, the pavilion will be easy to dismantle and reuse the material.
Some elements of the metal frame can be prefabricated in a factory.
From architects to sound technicians and construction companies, a group of experts from 10 companies have created the pavilion.
Work will begin in May; the first stone will be laid in Dubai in the second quarter of 2019.
Construction of the pavilion will take 17 months from May 2019 to September 2020.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
