Winners and losers of the WTA Abu Dhabi Open 2023?

The Russian born 25 year old right handed player was seeded number one for this WTA 500 event in the United Arab Emirates. After her bye in the opening Round of 32, she won her next round in a tough 3 sets playing Jil Teichmann/SUI, 1-6, 6-0, 6-2.

Then came the big surprise upset in the Quarter Finals against Qinwen Zhang/CHN who beat her in two straight sets, 6-1 6-2. Not at all the result we expected!

As with the other three top seeds, Belinda enjoyed a bye in the Round of 32. Her Round of 16 saw competition from Marta Kostyuk, the 20 year old right handed player from Kiev, Ukraine. However, the 25 year old Swiss right handed player came through a winner in two straight sets, 6-4 7-5 seeing her through to the Quarter Finals.

She played American Shelby Rogers and despite a nerve wracking tie break for the first set which she won 7-5, the final result was in favour of the Swiss girl, two straight sets, 7-6 and 6-2.

Bencic breezed through her next match in the Semi-Final, beating no.6 seed Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-2 6-3, again in straight sets earning her place in the Final of the Mubadala UAE Abu Dhabi Open.

Our money is on Belinda to take the Final and winners prize money of $74,161USD.

Rybakina took on the experienced Czech player Karolina Pliskova in the Round of 16 and convincingly beat her 6-4, 6-2 to take her through to the Quarter Finals where she met number six seed, Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia. Elena started the match well winning the first set 6-3. However, the tide turned against her in the second set and she lost 3-6. With all the focus on the third and final set, the Brazilian was able to upset the expected result by coming through the eventual winner two sets to one. Final result – Rybakina lost 6-3, 3-6, 2-6.

Our other top seeded 25 year old Russian right handed player started her Round of 16 against Belgian Elise Mertens, winning in two straight sets, 6-1, 7-5, earning her a place in the Quarter Final against fellow tall Russian, Luidmila Samsonova. We witnessed again an unexpected upset as Samsonova took on the experienced Kudermetova and beat her 6-3, 6-3, putting her out of the competition in the final eight.