Sunday, February 23, 2025

And what a swing it was!

The Middle East swing always delivers, in terms of high quality tennis, but this year, it also delivered what some may consider surprises, while others (myself included) consider the outcomes to be not so surprising.

Olympic gold medal winner Belinda Bencic, who returned to the tour four months ago, after giving birth to a daughter, lifted her second Abu Dhabi trophy.  The Swiss star defeated both Marketa Vondrousova and top seed Elena Rybakina before defeating Ashlyn Krueger in the final. Bencic, who was in the top 10 in 2022, didn’t play in Doha, and lost to 8th seed Emma Navarro in the second round in Dubai. Bencic is an unpredictable player, but is a lot of fun to watch, and her victory in Abu Dhabi, one hopes, marks the beginning of a good 2025 season.

For long-time tennis fans, the outcome in Doha was likely both exciting and disappointing. Alona Ostapenko was on a peak tear during this event, taking out 4th seed Jasmine Paolini, Ons Jabeur and 2nd seed Iga Swiatek, all in straight sets. But then we saw something we’ve seen too many times—the player who has dramatically defeated top opponents in the draw loses in the final. Ostapenko lost to Amanda Anisimoa, who had a tough draw of her own.

Tennis fans know Anisimova’s history—there has always been so much talent, and there have always been so many interruptions to her momentum. But there was no interruption this time, and Anisimova won her third—and biggest—title in Doha.

Dubai was another matter altogether. Clara Tauson is 22 years old—not a teen—yet, as the draw progressed, I couldn’t help but think of the 2021 U.S. Open, which had us thinking “Is it going to be the two teenagers in the end?”—and it was. Tauson upset Elina Svitolina in a thrilling, two-hour and 40-minute three-set match. And for her next act, she upset world number 1 Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets. She then knocked out up-and-coming Czech Linda Noskova, and—in the semifinals—she defeated 14th seed Karolina Muchova. What a run!

On the other side of the draw, 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva was doing her own damage, taking out 2nd seed Iga Swiatek and 6th seed Elena Rybakina. This was the young Russian’s second time to play Swiatek; she took a set off of her last year in Cincinnati, and it wasn’t a total shock to see her emerge the victor in Dubai. At 17 years old, Andreeva has both a generous amount of talent and the court poise of someone much older. She defeated Tauson in straight sets in the final, and—in doing so—became the youngest woman to win a WTA 1000 event. The Russian teen will enter the top 10 tomorrow.

The 2025 Middle East swing featured some wonderful tennis, and also served as a clear sign that the upstarts are definitely coming for the top players.

Oh—and there was this:

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