DUBAI // Simona Halep is looking to channel the spirit of Justine Henin tonight when she faces Karolina Pliskova in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
The Romanian, at 167.5 centimetres, is one of the smallest players on the WTA Tour and 15cm smaller than her Czech opponent.
But for Halep size does not matter – and childhood hero Henin is the proof.
Henin, the seven-time grand slam title winner and former world No 1, claimed a record four titles at the Aviation Club between 2003 and 2007, despite standing at just 166.3cm.
Halep, who once joked she is half the size of Maria Sharapova, secured her place in her first Dubai final on Friday night after fighting back from a set down to Caroline Wozniacki to conclusively beat the Dane 2-6, 6-1, 6-1.
“You know, when I was young I knew that I would be a short girl,” said Halep, who will return to third in the WTA world rankings when they are released next week.
“My idol was Justine Henin because we have the same height.
“I think we are faster, much faster than taller girls. We can play fast tennis. We cannot serve 190kph, so we have just to try to be aggressive, to take the ball very quickly and to finish the points.”
Halep has never faced Pliskova before in a tour event, but the 182.8cm Czech recalled meeting on court as juniors and playing for “eight hours or something”.
“I didn’t know that I played against her,” Halep said.
“I thought it would be my first time.
“But now it’s another day, another level, another tennis.
“I’m just trying to win, trying to fight every point.”
Halep is certainly a fighter. Last night, under the floodlights and cheered on by a surprising amount of Romanian spectators, she appeared lost as Wozniacki broke twice in the first set to quickly race to a 6-2 lead.
When Halep changed strategy, though, opting to play more measuredly, the match turned on its head.
“When I started the match I started with a bad tactic,” said 23-year-old Halep, who won in Doha last year.
“I just wanted to hit every ball and I did many mistakes. I couldn’t find the rhythm. In the second set I said that I have to change it and open the court more.
“I didn’t want to force too much like in the first set. That worked very well for me and I just kept doing it until the end.”
She closed out the final two sets with remarkable ease, prompting questions regarding Wozniacki’s fitness. The two-time US Open finalist has been ill this week and revealed later the concoction of pharmaceutical drugs she has been taking: “cough syrup, Tylenol, aspirin, Advil, lozenges and a few other things”.
“I definitely think it’s taken a toll on me,” said Wozniacki, ranked No 5 in the world.
“I’m still pretty pleased with my week considering everything that has been going on though.
“Unfortunately it wasn’t enough. It was just like the air of the balloon just kind of went out.”
gmeenaghan@thenational.ae
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A cheaper choice
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The struggle is on for active managers
David Einhorn closed out 2018 with his biggest annual loss ever for the 22-year-old Greenlight Capital.
The firm’s main hedge fund fell 9 per cent in December, extending this year’s decline to 34 percent, according to an investor update viewed by Bloomberg.
Greenlight posted some of the industry’s best returns in its early years, but has stumbled since losing more than 20 per cent in 2015.
Other value-investing managers have also struggled, as a decade of historically low interest rates and the rise of passive investing and quant trading pushed growth stocks past their inexpensive brethren. Three Bays Capital and SPO Partners & Co., which sought to make wagers on undervalued stocks, closed in 2018. Mr Einhorn has repeatedly expressed his frustration with the poor performance this year, while remaining steadfast in his commitment to value investing.
Greenlight, which posted gains only in May and October, underperformed both the broader market and its peers in 2018. The S&P 500 Index dropped 4.4 per cent, including dividends, while the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index, an early indicator of industry performance, fell 7 per cent through December. 28.
At the start of the year, Greenlight managed $6.3 billion in assets, according to a regulatory filing. By May, the firm was down to $5.5bn.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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 old
- 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 or 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
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Left Bank: Art, Passion and Rebirth of Paris 1940-1950
Agnes Poirer, Bloomsbury
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Recent winners
2002 Giselle Khoury (Colombia)
2004 Nathalie Nasralla (France)
2005 Catherine Abboud (Oceania)
2007 Grace Bijjani (Mexico)
2008 Carina El-Keddissi (Brazil)
2009 Sara Mansour (Brazil)
2010 Daniella Rahme (Australia)
2011 Maria Farah (Canada)
2012 Cynthia Moukarzel (Kuwait)
2013 Layla Yarak (Australia)
2014 Lia Saad (UAE)
2015 Cynthia Farah (Australia)
2016 Yosmely Massaad (Venezuela)
2017 Dima Safi (Ivory Coast)
2018 Rachel Younan (Australia)
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
