Defending champion clash with Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka in the final price
Early fall of the most prominent seeds in «Tennis Dubai»
France's Caroline Garcia loses to American Madison Keys. Cinematographer: Patrick Castillo
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The second round matches of the Dubai Tennis Championship, which is currently being held in its 23rd edition until January 25, at the Dubai Duty Free courts in Al Garhoud, witnessed high-caliber surprises, after a number of seeds left the tournament, with a total prize pool of $ 2.9 million, with the participation of a group of professional tennis stars, led by 17 of the top 20 players in the world.
The French Caroline Garcia, ranked fifth in the world, came out early in the second round by losing to American Madison Keys, in two sets without a response 7-5 and 6-4, as it is the fourth consecutive loss also for Garcia in the face of her American rival runner-up «Flushing Meadows» in 2017, knowing that the French achieved one victory over Keys in the first meeting between them in the competition «Federation Cup» about nine years ago.
Garcia, 29, was also knocked out in the first round of last year's Dubai tournament, while Keys, who is participating in the Dubai tournament for the second time, recorded the 11th victory of her career over a player in the top five of the WTA rankings, and the first since beating Polish star Iga Świętek at the Cincinnati tournament last year.
The second surprise was the loss of Greek sixth seed Maria Sakkari, to Czech Karolina Pliskova, in two sets without a response, 6-2, 6-1, while the fall of the seeds continued with the loss of Russian Daria Kasatkina, the seventh seed, to Czech Barbora Krajchikova, two sets to set, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.
On the other hand, (defending champion) Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, ranked 20 in the world, continued the campaign to defend her title successfully, after she qualified for the round of 16 at the expense of Czech Linda Frohetova, ranked 52, by beating her in two sets without a response by 6-2 and 6-56 in an easy match that extended to only <> minutes, but Ostapenko's path in the defense of her title will not be easy today, as she will collide with Belarusian star Aryna Sabalenka, world number two and holder of the Australian Open title.
Sabalenka had ensured her qualification to the round of 16 at the expense of American Lauren Davis, seeded 49, after she outperformed her in the second round, yesterday, in two sets without a response by 6-6 and 1-61, in a match that lasted 6 minutes, during which the champion of the 'Australian Open' did not find any difficulty in crossing to the third round, and finally, American Jessica Pegula, the third seed, qualified by beating Bulgarian Victoria Tomova 2-5, 7-6, 1-<>.
Caroline Garcia visits Mohammed Bin Rashid Library
World number five Caroline Garcia visited the Mohammed bin Rashid Library in Dubai on the sidelines of her participation in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship.
The French star expressed her great admiration for the modern library, which is a unique masterpiece, and explored during her tour in its various sections part of the valuable books that abound in it, which are more than 300,<> books.