Dubai Tennis Championships

Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships
Tournament information
Tour	ATP World Tour WTA Tour
Location	Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Venue	Aviation Club Tennis Centre
Category	ATP World Tour 500 WTA Premier
Surface	Hard (Outdoor)
Draw	32S/16Q/16D (men) 28S/32Q/16D (women)
Prize money	US$2,413,300 (men) US$2,000,000 (women)
Website	Official website
Current champions (2013)
Men's singles	Novak Djokovic
Women's singles	Petra Kvitová
Men's doubles	Mahesh Bhupathi Rohan Bopanna
Women's doubles	Bethanie Mattek-Sands Sania Mirza

The Dubai Tennis Championships (also known as the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships for sponsorship reasons) (formerly known for sponsorship reasons as the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships and the Dubai Duty Free Men's and Women's Championships) is a professional tennis tournament owned and organized by Dubai Duty Free and held annually in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on outdoor hardcourts. The tournament takes place at the end of February and organizes a men's and women's event. The tournament takes place under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

History

Dubai Tennis Championships in 2006

For five years Swiss Roger Federer, on the men's side, and Belgian Justine Henin, on the women's side, dominated the singles' tournaments. Between 2003 and 2007, Federer and Henin each won the singles title four times. However, in 2008, neither player managed to reach the finals; Andy Roddick and Elena Dementieva became the new champions. Currently, the reigning champions are Novak Djokovic and Petra Kvitová.

2009 Shahar Pe'er visa controversy

In February 2009, Israeli player Shahar Pe'er was denied entry visa by the United Arab Emirates, a country that does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. Tournament director Salah Tahlak said that Pe'er was refused on the grounds that her appearance could incite anger in the Arab country, after she had already faced protests earlier at the ASB Classic over the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict. A number of top-seeded players, among them Venus Williams, condemned the action to not grant Pe'er a visa.

In response, the Dubai Tennis Championship was fined a record US$300,000. The fine was appealed by DTC, but the WTA Tour Board rejected the appeal. Pe'er was awarded a guarantee to enter the next (2010) edition of the event, plus US$44,250, an amount equal to the average prize money she earned per tournament in 2008. A number of highly-ranked tennis players, including 2008 winner Andy Roddick, pulled out of the men's event (ATP 500 Dubai) which was scheduled to take place the week after the women's event. As a result, the UAE issued Israeli Andy Ram a visa for the men's tournament.

Past finals

In the men's singles, Roger Federer (winner in 2003–05, 2007, 2012, runner-up in 2006, 2011) holds the records for most titles (five), most finals (seven), and most consecutive titles (three), sharing the last record with Novak Djokovic (winner in 2009–11, 2013). In the women's singles, Justine Henin (2003–04, 2006–07) holds the record for most titles (four) and shares with Venus Williams (2009–10) the record for most consecutive titles (two). In men's doubles, Mahesh Bhupathi (1998, 2004, 2008, 2012–13) has won the most overall titles (five), and co-holds with Grant Connell (1995–96) the record for most consecutive titles (two). In women's doubles, Liezel Huber (2007–09, 2011–12) took the most titles (five) and, alongside partner Cara Black (2007–09), the most back-to-back titles (three).

Men's singles

Roger Federer (winner in 2003–05, 2007, 2012, runner-up in 2006, 2011) holds all records in Dubai, for most titles (five), most finals (seven), and most back-to-back titles (three).

Novak Djokovic (2009–11) shares with Federer the record for most consecutive titles (three).

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Score
1993	Karel Nováček	Fabrice Santoro	6–4, 7–5
1994	Magnus Gustafsson	Sergi Bruguera	6–4, 6–2
1995	Wayne Ferreira	Andrea Gaudenzi	6–3, 6–3
1996	Goran Ivanišević	Albert Costa	6–4, 6–3
1997	Thomas Muster	Goran Ivanišević	7–5, 7–6(7–3)
1998	Àlex Corretja	Félix Mantilla	7–6(7–0), 6–1
1999	Jérôme Golmard	Nicolas Kiefer	6–4, 6–2
2000	Nicolas Kiefer	Juan Carlos Ferrero	7–5, 4–6, 6–3
2001	Juan Carlos Ferrero	Marat Safin	6–2, 3–1 retired
2002	Fabrice Santoro	Younes El Aynaoui	6–4, 3–6, 6–3
2003	Roger Federer	Jiří Novák	6–1, 7–6(7–2)
2004	Roger Federer	Feliciano López	4–6, 6–1, 6–2
2005	Roger Federer	Ivan Ljubičić	6–1, 6–7(6–8), 6–3
2006	Rafael Nadal	Roger Federer	2–6, 6–4, 6–4
2007	Roger Federer	Mikhail Youzhny	6–4, 6–3
2008	Andy Roddick	Feliciano López	6–7(8–10), 6–4, 6–2
2009	Novak Djokovic	David Ferrer	7–5, 6–3
2010	Novak Djokovic	Mikhail Youzhny	7–5, 5–7, 6–3
2011	Novak Djokovic	Roger Federer	6–3, 6–3
2012	Roger Federer	Andy Murray	7–5, 6–4
2013	Novak Djokovic	Tomáš Berdych	7–5, 6–3

Women's singles

Justine Henin (2003–04, 2006–07) collected a record total of four singles titles in Dubai.

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Score
2001	Martina Hingis	Nathalie Tauziat	6–4, 6–4
2002	Amélie Mauresmo	Sandrine Testud	6–4, 7–6(7–3)
2003	Justine Henin-Hardenne	Monica Seles	4–6, 7–6(7–4), 7–5
2004	Justine Henin-Hardenne	Svetlana Kuznetsova	7–6(7–3), 6–3
2005	Lindsay Davenport	Jelena Janković	6–4, 3–6, 6–4
2006	Justine Henin-Hardenne	Maria Sharapova	7–5, 6–2
2007	Justine Henin-Hardenne	Amélie Mauresmo	6–4, 7–5
2008	Elena Dementieva	Svetlana Kuznetsova	4–6, 6–3, 6–2
2009	Venus Williams	Virginie Razzano	6–4, 6–2
2010	Venus Williams	Victoria Azarenka	6–3, 7–5
2011	Caroline Wozniacki	Svetlana Kuznetsova	6–1, 6–3
2012	Agnieszka Radwańska	Julia Görges	7–5, 6–4
2013	Petra Kvitová	Sara Errani	6–2, 1–6, 6–1

Men's doubles

Mahesh Bhupathi (1998, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2013) took five doubles titles at the tournament, each time with a different partner.

Year	Champions	Runners-up	Score
1993	John Fitzgerald Anders Järryd	Grant Connell Patrick Galbraith	6–2, 6–1
1994	Todd Woodbridge Mark Woodforde	Darren Cahill John Fitzgerald	6–7, 6–4, 6–2
1995	Grant Connell Patrick Galbraith	Tomás Carbonell Francisco Roig	6–2, 4–6, 6–3
1996	Grant Connell Byron Black	Karel Nováček Jiří Novák	6–0, 6–1
1997	Sander Groen Goran Ivanišević	Sandon Stolle Cyril Suk	7–6, 6–3
1998	Mahesh Bhupathi Leander Paes	Donald Johnson Francisco Montana	6–2, 7–5
1999	Wayne Black Sandon Stolle	David Adams John-Laffnie de Jager	4–6, 6–1, 6–4
2000	Jiří Novák David Rikl	Robbie Koenig Peter Tramacchi	6–2, 7–5
2001	Joshua Eagle Sandon Stolle	Daniel Nestor Nenad Zimonjić	6–4, 6–4
2002	Mark Knowles Daniel Nestor	Joshua Eagle Sandon Stolle	3–6, 6–3, [13–11]
2003	Leander Paes David Rikl	Wayne Black Kevin Ullyett	6–3, 6–0
2004	Mahesh Bhupathi Fabrice Santoro	Jonas Björkman Leander Paes	6–2, 4–6, 6–4
2005	Martin Damm Radek Štěpánek	Jonas Björkman Fabrice Santoro	6–2, 6–4
2006	Paul Hanley Kevin Ullyett	Mark Knowles Daniel Nestor	1–6, 6–2, [10–1]
2007	Fabrice Santoro Nenad Zimonjić	Mahesh Bhupathi Radek Štěpánek	7–5, 6–7(3–7), [10–7]
2008	Mahesh Bhupathi Mark Knowles	Martin Damm Pavel Vízner	7–5, 7–6(9–7)
2009	Rik de Voest Dmitry Tursunov	Martin Damm Robert Lindstedt	4–6, 6–3, [10–5]
2010	Simon Aspelin Paul Hanley	Lukáš Dlouhý Leander Paes	6–2, 6–3
2011	Sergiy Stakhovsky Mikhail Youzhny	Jérémy Chardy Feliciano López	4–6, 6–3, [10–3]
2012	Mahesh Bhupathi Rohan Bopanna	Mariusz Fyrstenberg Marcin Matkowski	6–4, 3–6, [10–5]
2013	Mahesh Bhupathi Michaël Llodra	Robert Lindstedt Nenad Zimonjić	7–6(8–6), 7–6(8–6)

Women's doubles

Liezel Huber (2007–09, 2011–12) is the most successful player in women's doubles, with five titles in Dubai.

Year	Champions	Runners-up	Score
2001	Yayuk Basuki Caroline Vis	Åsa Svensson Karina Habšudová	6–0, 4–6, 6–2
2002	Barbara Rittner María Vento-Kabchi	Sandrine Testud Roberta Vinci	6–3, 6–2
2003	Svetlana Kuznetsova Martina Navrátilová	Cara Black Elena Likhovtseva	6–3, 7–6(9–7)
2004	Janette Husárová Conchita Martínez	Svetlana Kuznetsova Elena Likhovtseva	6–0, 1–6, 6–3
2005	Virginia Ruano Paola Suárez	Svetlana Kuznetsova Alicia Molik	6–7(7–9), 6–2, 6–1
2006	Květa Peschke Francesca Schiavone	Svetlana Kuznetsova Nadia Petrova	3–6, 7–6(7–1), 6–3
2007	Cara Black Liezel Huber	Svetlana Kuznetsova Alicia Molik	7–6(8–6), 6–4
2008	Cara Black Liezel Huber	Zheng Jie Yan Zi	7–5, 6–2
2009	Cara Black Liezel Huber	Maria Kirilenko Agnieszka Radwańska	6–3, 6–3
2010	Nuria Llagostera Vives María José Martínez Sánchez	Květa Peschke Katarina Srebotnik	7–6(7–5), 6–4
2011	Liezel Huber María José Martínez Sánchez	Květa Peschke Katarina Srebotnik	7–6(7–5), 6–3
2012	Liezel Huber Lisa Raymond	Sania Mirza Elena Vesnina	6–2, 6–1
2013	Bethanie Mattek-Sands Sania Mirza	Nadia Petrova Katarina Srebotnik	6–4, 2–6, [10–7]

External links

• Official Website
• Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships - Dubai Events Official Listings

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Kitzbühel	ATP International Series Tournament of the Year 1997	Succeeded by Lyon & Scottsdale
Preceded by Montréal	Favorite WTA Tier I - II Tournament 2001, 2002	Succeeded by Moscow
Preceded by Kitzbühel Acapulco	ATP World Tour 500 Tournament of the Year 2003-2006 2008-present	Succeeded by Acapulco -