Dates, draws, prize money and everything you need to know

The Middle East Swing comes to its conclusion next week with a second straight WTA 1000 event, the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

The outdoor hard-court event in the U.A.E. will be celebrating its 25th edition this year by hosting 27 of the world’s Top 30 players in the PIF WTA Rankings.

Main-draw play will start on Sunday, Feb. 16, with over 3.6 million dollars of total prize money at stake during the seven-day event. The singles champion will be crowned on Saturday, Feb. 22 and receive $597,000 and 1,000 ranking points.

Here are the fast facts you need to know about the second WTA 1000 event of the season:

Main-Draw Start Date: Sunday, Feb. 16
Singles Final: Saturday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m.
Doubles Final: Saturday, Feb. 22 at 4:30 p.m.
Qualifying Dates: Friday, Feb. 14 – Saturday, Feb. 15
Main-Draw Ceremony: Saturday, Feb. 15 at 1 p.m.
Draw Size: 56 singles players (including 8 qualifiers and 4 wild cards), 28 doubles teams
Time Zone: Gulf Standard Time (GMT +4, EST +9)
Tournament Ball: Dunlop Fort All Court Tournament Select

Here are some of the key storylines to watch at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships:

• World No. 4 Jasmine Paolini will be back to defend the first WTA 1000 title of her career. Paolini’s run to the Dubai crown kickstarted her breakthrough season which saw her enter the Top 5 and reach Grand Slam finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
• Last year, Paolini became the second Italian to win the Dubai singles title. She followed in the footsteps of her current doubles partner, Sara Errani, who won the Dubai singles title in 2016.
• The world’s Top 3 players — Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff — will all come to the event in search of their first Dubai singles title. Swiatek has come the closest of the three, finishing runner-up to Barbora Krejcikova in 2023.
• Belinda Bencic kicked off this year’s Middle East Swing by winning her second Abu Dhabi title, less than four months since she returned to the courts following maternity leave. The new mom will be back in the U.A.E. in an attempt to claim her second Dubai title, having triumphed at this event in 2019.
• Elina Svitolina is the most recent player to win back-to-back Dubai titles, hoisting the trophy in 2017 and 2018. Svitolina won 12 straight matches at the event between 2017 and 2019.
• Former World No. 1 Justine Henin has won the most Dubai singles titles overall, capturing the title four times in a five-year span between 2003 and 2007. Another former World No. 1, Venus Williams, is a three-time Dubai champion.

Dubai ranking points and prize money
First round: 10 points | $16,900
Second round: 65 points | $23,500
Round of 16: 120 points | $41,600
Quarterfinals: 215 points | $83,470
Semifinals: 390 points | $181,400
Finalist: 650 points | $351,801
Champion: 1000 points | $597,000

After Dubai comes to a close, the WTA 1000 events get back into full swing only a week-and-a-half later with the Sunshine Double: the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and the Miami Open presented by Itaú. Main-draw play starts in Indian Wells on Wednesday, March 5.