Dubai set for tennis treat

Fatma Al Nabhani, of Oman, will be the only Arabian representative in the women’s main draw after the talented Tunisian teenager Ons Jabeur lost her second qualifying round clash to Arantxa Rus, of the Netherlands, 2-6, 6-2, 5-7, on Sunday.

Al Nabhani is scheduled to kick off proceedings at 12noon on Court One against Shahar Peer, of Israel, prior to four other first-round matches on Centre from 2pm.

Russian Maria Kirilenko challenges Monica Niculescu, of Romania, initially with the victor going on to face either Serb Ana Ivanovic or Italy’s Francesca Schiavone, the seventh seed, in the next phase.

Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues and Flavia Pennetta, of Italy, then lock horns to determine who earns the right to meet the eighth-seeded Serb Jelena Jankovic or Czech Petra Cetkovska in round two.

Then, in the evening programme from 7pm onwards, third-seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki — the defending champion here — awaits the winner of the first night game between Germany’s Julia Goerges and last year’s runner-up, Svetlana Kuznetsova, of Russia.

Were Kuznetsova to prevail then, there would be a repeat of the 2011 final as early as the last 16.

Finally, Jankovic and Cetkovska square off to complete at least two second-round tussles at the end of day one’s play. Elsewhere, the four remaining qualifying ties take place on the outside courts to decide the first-round opponents for the likes of Daniela Hantuchova, of Slovakia, Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Czech Lucie Safarova and Hantuchova’s compatriot Dominika Cibulkova.

Rus against Simona Halep, of Romania, follows the Al Nabhani-Peer encounter on Court One, while over on Court Three from 1:30pm, Germany’s Mona Barthel and Polona Hercog, of Slovenia, will round off their third outing in as many days opposite Croatia’s Petra Martic and Aleksandra Wozniak, of Canada, respectively.

Iveta Benesova, of the Czech Republic, versus Australia’s Casey Dellacqua is the only qualifying battle scheduled on Court Seven, starting at 1pm.

In the women’s double, Su-Wei Hsieh and Shuai Peng tackle third-seeded duo Hantuchova and Agnieszka Radwanska.

Qualifying results

Court One

· Second Round: Casey Dellacqua (Australia) bt Ayumi Morita (Japan) 6-0, 6-3, Mona Barthel (4) (Germany) bt Bojana Jovanovski (Serbia) 4-6, 7-6 (3), 7-5, Polona Hercog (2) (Slovenia) bt Virginie Razzano (France) 6-2, W-W (Razzano retired at the end of the first set).

Court Two

· First Round: Virginie Razzano (France) bt Kristina Barrois (Germany) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

· Second Round: Iveta Benesova (9) (Czech Republic) bt Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) 6-3, 6-2.

Court Three

· Second Round: Simona Halep (Romania) bt Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (5) (Spain) 6-1, 6-1, Aleksandra Wozniak (Canada) bt Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukraine) 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-1, Petra Martic (Croatia) bt Anastasia Rodionova (Australia) 6-2, 6-3.

Court Seven

· First Round: Anastasia Rodionova (Australia) bt Tamira Paszek (8) (Austria) 6-4, 6-4. Second Round: Arantxa Rus (The Netherlands) bt Ons Jabeur (W) (Tunisia) 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.

Women’s doubles main draw

Liezel Huber (USA) & Lisa Raymond (USA) (1) vs Julia Goerges (Germany) & Jie Zheng (China), Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spain) & Alicja Rosolska (Poland) vs Maria Kirilenko (Russia) & Sabine Lisicki (Germany), Nuria Llagostera Vives (Spain) & Anastasia Rodionova (Australia) (4) vs Natalie Grandin (South Africa) & Vladimira Uhlirova (Czech Republic), Raquel Kops-Jones (USA) & Abigail Spears (USA) vs Flavia Pennetta (Italy) & Francesca Schiavone (Italy) (W), Iveta Benesova (Czech Republic) & Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (Czech Republic) vs Klaudia Jans-Ignacik (Poland) & Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia), Su-Wei Hsieh (Taipei) & Shuai Peng (China) vs Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) & Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) (3), Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (Spain) & Shahar Peer (Israel) vs Casey Dellacqua (Australia) & Samantha Stosur (Australia) (W), Fatma Al Nabhani (Oman) & Andreja Klepac (Slovenia) (W) vs Sania Mirza (India) & Elena Vesnina (Russia) (2).