Dubai Tennis Championships 2023: Women's draw, schedule, players, prize money breakdown and more
The season's first WTA 1000 tournament is set to kick off as the 2023 Dubai Tennis Championships will be held from February 19-25.
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek leads the field as the top seed, while Aryna Sabalenka is seeded second. Sabalenka will be back in action for the first time following her exploits at the Australian Open. Jessica Pegula and Caroline Garcia round out the top four seeds.
World No. 3 Ons Jabeur is the only top 10 player missing in action this week as she's recuperating after surgery.
With an insanely stacked draw, the tournament promises plenty of thrilling matches one after the other. Here's all the relevant information about the Dubai Tennis Championships:
What is the Dubai Tennis Championships?
The tournament began as an ATP-only event in 1993 and started playing host to the women's tour in 2001. It was classified as a WTA Premier (WTA 500) tournament until 2008. It was upgraded to the Premier 5 (WTA 1000) category for the next three editions, before reverting back to its original status.
Since 2015, the tournament has alternated between WTA 500 and WTA 1000 in tandem with the Qatar Open. Justine Henin is the most decorated female champion with four titles, followed by Venus Williams with three.
Venue
The Dubai Tennis Championships will take place at the Aviation Club Tennis Center in Dubai, UAE.
Players
The top eight seeds have received a first-round bye. Iga Swiatek, Maria Sakkari, Caroline Garcia and Coco Gauff headline the top half of the draw and will begin their campaign in the second round.
Swiatek is likely to start off against Leylah Fernandez, while Sakkari could be up against Karolina Pliskova. Elena Rybakina will square off against Bianca Andreescu in an exciting first-round showdown.
Paula Badosa, Veronika Kudermetova and Qinwen Zheng are other big names in the top half of the draw. Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, Belinda Bencic and Daria Kasatkina anchor the bottom half of the draw.
Sabalenka, Pegula, Bencic and Kasatkina have all also received a first-round bye. Bencic's quest for a title is likely to commence against Marta Kostyuk, while Pegula could face giant-killer Kaia Kanepi in the second round.
Sabalenka's first match since winning the Australian Open could be against either Anastasia Potapova or Jil Teichmann. Jelena Ostapenko will commence her title defense against a qualifier.
Petra Kvitova, Barbora Krejcikova, Danielle Collins and Shelby Rogers are other players of note in the bottom half of the draw. The women's draw can be found here.
Schedule
The qualifying rounds end on Saturday, February 18. The main-draw matches will commence on Sunday, February 19. The first-round matches will be played over two days. The second and third round matches are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.
The quarterfinals are to be held on Thursday, followed by the semifinals and the finals on Friday and Saturday respectively. The doubles final will begin at 5:30 pm local time, followed by the singles final at 7:00 pm.
The official schedule can be accessed here.
Prize Money
The total prize money for the 2023 Dubai Tennis Championships is $2,788,468. The women's singles winner will walk away with a cheque worth $454,500 and 900 ranking points. Here's a detailed breakdown of the prize money and ranking points:
Where to watch
Viewers in the US and UK can watch the Dubai Tennis Championships live on the following channels and sites:-
USA: Viewers in the United States can catch all the action on Tennis Channel.
UK: Fans in the UK can watch the proceedings live on Amazon Prime Video.
For more information regarding the broadcast of matches, click here.