DUBAI // Cagla Buyukakcay, the defending Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge champion, was hoping to get her new season off to a “perfect start” here in Dubai. Unfortunately for the Turkish player, things did not go to plan on Tuesday.
Instead, it was her opponent Ksenia Pervak, playing her first match after coming out of an injury-enforced retirement, got her comeback off to a perfect start.
She dismissed the top seed 6-0, 7-6 in an hour and 46 minutes, on a day which saw only one of the eight seeds make it through to the second round.
Playing her first match in more than 16 months, Pervak — the 2009 Australian Open junior champion and a former world No 37 who was forced to retire at the end of the 2015 season due to chronic injuries — showed little signs of rust in her comeback match.
She took the first set in just 39 minutes. The second set was a bit tighter, with three break of serves apiece, but the 25-year-old Russian cruised through the tie-break, dropping only one point. Overall, she won 78 points to Buyukakcay’s 55.
“It is a little bit different for me,” said Pervak, who started practising again in August but, until three days ago, was not even sure of taking the court for her first-round match.
“I had not played for so long. I had a few knee surgeries, including one in July.
“So I am really happy to get through the first round, especially against an opponent like Buyukakcay, who is always putting the ball back.
“I was a little bit tired towards the end because I have not played for so long. Playing matches is very different to practise, especially in conditions like these.
“So I am really happy I was able to go through despite the tiredness.”
The defeat meant Buyukakcay became the third seeded player to exit the tournament. Kristina Kucova, the second seed, and No 8 seed Cindy Burger lost Monday’s opening day.
Evgeniya Rodina, the No 3 seed, and Mandy Minella, the No 4 seed, were also eliminated, Rodina losing 6-7, 4-6 to Germany’s Mona Barthel and Minella was ousted 1-6, 5-7 to Nigina Abduraimova of Uzbekistan.
Rebecca Sramkova, the sixth seed from Slovakia, also did not survive, losing 6-0, 6-7, 5-7 to Tadeja Majeric of Slovenia. Later, Dalma Galfi, the 2015 US Open junior champion, rallied to oust seventh seed Aryna Sabalenka 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
Fifth seed Hsieh Su-wei was the only seed to survive the first round cull, defeating Viktoriya Tomova 6-3, 6-3.
In the other first-round matches of the day, Oman’s Fatma Al Nabhani, the newly crowned Arab champion, lasted only 43 minutes on court against Quirine Lemoine of the Netherlands before being blown away 6-0, 6-0.
Sabina Sharipova of Uzbekistan defeated Jana Fett 7-5, 6-3, while Serbia’s Ivana Jorovic brushed Ukraine’s Anastasiya Vasylyeva aside 6-4, 6-1 on her way to the second round.
Lemoine’s compatriot Lesley Kerkhove defeated Russian Viktoria Kamenskaya 7-5, 6-2, while Serbia’s Nina Stojanovic cruised past Elitsa Kostova of Bulgaria 6-4, 6-3.
In the day’s final match, former world No 7 Patty Schnyder saw her Dubai campaign come to an early end at the hands of Barbara Haas. The German won the first set 6-3, only for her Austrian opponent to win the second and third sets 6-3, 7-5.
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Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
more from Janine di Giovanni
The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
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The results of the first round are as follows:
Qais Saied (Independent): 18.4 per cent
Nabil Karoui (Qalb Tounes): 15.58 per cent
Abdelfattah Mourou (Ennahdha party): 12.88 per cent
Abdelkarim Zbidi (two-time defence minister backed by Nidaa Tounes party): 10.7 per cent
Youssef Chahed (former prime minister, leader of Long Live Tunisia): 7.3 per cent
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years-of-age
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his/her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30-years-old and able to support the child financially
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters
The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.
Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.
A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.
The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.
The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.
Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.
Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment
But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The specs: 2018 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross
Price, base / as tested: Dh101,140 / Dh113,800
Engine: Turbocharged 1.5-litre four-cylinder
Power: 148hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 250Nm @ 2,000rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed CVT
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.0L / 100km
