2021 Dubai Tennis Championships
# 2021 Dubai Tennis Championships

The 2021 Dubai Tennis Championships (also known as the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships for sponsorship reasons) was an ATP 500 event on the 2021 ATP Tour and a WTA 1000 tournament on the 2021 WTA Tour. Both events were originally scheduled for February 15 to 21 and February 22 to 28 for women's and men's tournaments, respectively. They were rescheduled to March 7 to 13 and March 14 to 20 due to the Australian Open reschedule and were held at the Aviation Club Tennis Centre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

## Champions

### Men's singles

* Aslan Karatsev def. Lloyd Harris, 6–3, 6–2

This was Karatsev's first ATP Tour singles title.

### Women's singles

* Garbiñe Muguruza def. Barbora Krejčíková, $7–6^{(8–6)},$ 6–3

### Men's doubles

* Juan Sebastián Cabal / Robert Farah def. Nikola Mektić / Mate Pavić, $7–6^{(7–0)},$ $7–6^{(7–4)}$

### Women's doubles

* Alexa Guarachi / Darija Jurak def. Xu Yifan / Yang Zhaoxuan, 6–0, 6–3

## ATP singles main-draw entrants

### Seeds

| Country | Player | $Ranking^1$ | Seed |
| - | - | - | - |
| AUT | Dominic Thiem | 4 | 1 |
| RUS | Andrey Rublev | 8 | 2 |
| CAN | Denis Shapovalov | 11 | 3 |
| ESP | Roberto Bautista Agut | 13 | 4 |
| BEL | David Goffin | 14 | 5 |
| ESP | Pablo Carreño Busta | 16 | 6 |
| SUI | Stan Wawrinka | 20 | 7 |
| RUS | Karen Khachanov | 21 | 8 |
| AUS | Alex de Minaur | 23 | 9 |
| CRO | Borna Ćorić | 24 | 10 |
| SRB | Dušan Lajović | 27 | 11 |
| GBR | Dan Evans | 28 | 12 |
| POL | Hubert Hurkacz | 30 | 13 |
| SRB | Filip Krajinović | 32 | 14 |
| USA | Taylor Fritz | 33 | 15 |
| ITA | Jannik Sinner | 34 | 16 |
| ITA | Lorenzo Sonego | 35 | 17 |

* Rankings are as of March 8, 2021.

### Other entrants

The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:

* Malek Jaziri
* Aslan Karatsev
* Dennis Novak
* Alexei Popyrin

The following player received entry using as a special exempt:

* Matthew Ebden

The following players received entry from the qualifying draw:

* Yuki Bhambri
* Lloyd Harris
* Mikhail Kukushkin
* Christopher O'Connell
* Emil Ruusuvuori
* Bernabé Zapata Miralles

The following players received entry as lucky losers:

* Radu Albot
* Lorenzo Giustino

### Withdrawals

**Before the tournament**

* Matteo Berrettini → replaced by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
* Borna Ćorić → replaced by Lorenzo Giustino
* Roger Federer → replaced by Yoshihito Nishioka
* Nick Kyrgios → replaced by Aljaž Bedene
* Gaël Monfils → replaced by Márton Fucsovics
* Stan Wawrinka → replaced by Radu Albot

### Retirements

* Matthew Ebden
* Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

## ATP doubles main-draw entrants

### Seeds

| Country | Player | Country | Player | $Rank^1$ | Seed |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| COL | Juan Sebastián Cabal | COL | Robert Farah | 3 | 1 |
| CRO | Nikola Mektić | CRO | Mate Pavić | 7 | 2 |
| NED | Wesley Koolhof | POL | Łukasz Kubot | 19 | 3 |
| CRO | Ivan Dodig | SVK | Filip Polášek | 19 | 4 |

* Rankings are as of March 8, 2021.

### Other entrants

The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles main draw:

* Omar Alawadhi / Hamad Abbas Janahi
* Vasek Pospisil / Nenad Zimonjić

The following pair received entry from the qualifying draw:

* Lorenzo Sonego / Andrea Vavassori

### Withdrawals

**Before the tournament**

* Henri Kontinen / Édouard Roger-Vasselin → replaced by Henri Kontinen / Jordan Thompson
* Sander Gillé / Joran Vliegen → replaced by David Goffin / Joran Vliegen
* Karen Khachanov / Andrey Rublev → replaced by Marcelo Arévalo / Matwé Middelkoop

## WTA singles main-draw entrants

### Seeds

| Country | Player | $Ranking^1$ | Seed |
| - | - | - | - |
| UKR | Elina Svitolina | 5 | 1 |
| CZE | Karolína Plíšková | 6 | 2 |
| BLR | Aryna Sabalenka | 8 | 3 |
| CZE | Petra Kvitová | 10 | 4 |
| NED | Kiki Bertens | 11 | 5 |
| SUI | Belinda Bencic | 12 | 6 |
| BLR | Victoria Azarenka | 14 | 7 |
| POL | Iga Świątek | 15 | 8 |
| ESP | Garbiñe Muguruza | 16 | 9 |
| BEL | Elise Mertens | 18 | 10 |
| USA | Madison Keys | 19 | 11 |
| CZE | Markéta Vondroušová | 20 | 12 |
| CRO | Petra Martić | 21 | 13 |
| KAZ | Elena Rybakina | 23 | 14 |
| EST | Anett Kontaveit | 24 | 15 |
| GRE | Maria Sakkari | 25 | 16 |

* Rankings are as of March 1, 2021.

### Other entrants

The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:

* Tímea Babos
* Coco Gauff
* Anastasia Potapova

The following player received entry into the singles main draw using a protected ranking:

* Yaroslava Shvedova

The following players received entry from the qualifying draw:

* Irina-Camelia Begu
* Ana Bogdan
* Kaia Kanepi
* Ana Konjuh
* Liang En-shuo
* Tereza Martincová
* Lesia Tsurenko
* Katarina Zavatska

The following players received entry as lucky losers:

* Misaki Doi
* Viktoriya Tomova
* Martina Trevisan

### Withdrawals

**Before the tournament**

* Bianca Andreescu → replaced by Alizé Cornet
* Victoria Azarenka → replaced by Martina Trevisan
* Paula Badosa → replaced by Misaki Doi
* Ashleigh Barty → replaced by Kateřina Siniaková
* Jennifer Brady → replaced by Bernarda Pera
* Danielle Collins → replaced by Kristýna Plíšková
* Fiona Ferro → replaced by Viktoriya Tomova
* Simona Halep → replaced by Jessica Pegula
* Sofia Kenin → replaced by Kristina Mladenovic
* Magda Linette → replaced by Jil Teichmann
* Karolína Muchová → replaced by Barbora Krejčíková
* Yulia Putintseva → replaced by Paula Badosa
* Alison Riske → replaced by Anastasija Sevastova
* Barbora Strýcová → replaced by Laura Siegemund
* Donna Vekić → replaced by Patricia Maria Țig
* Zhang Shuai → replaced by Shelby Rogers

### Retirements

* Petra Kvitová (right adductor)

## WTA doubles main-draw entrants

### Seeds

| Country | Player | Country | Player | $Rank^1$ | Seed |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| BEL | Elise Mertens | BLR | Aryna Sabalenka | 3 | 1 |
| CZE | Barbora Krejčíková | CZE | Kateřina Siniaková | 15 | 2 |
| USA | Nicole Melichar | NED | Demi Schuurs | 23 | 3 |
| JPN | Shuko Aoyama | JPN | Ena Shibahara | 29 | 4 |
| HUN | Tímea Babos | RUS | Veronika Kudermetova | 32 | 5 |
| CAN | Gabriela Dabrowski | USA | Coco Gauff | 57 | 6 |
| USA | Hayley Carter | BRA | Luisa Stefani | 61 | 7 |
| CHI | Alexa Guarachi | CRO | Darija Jurak | 63 | 8 |

* Rankings are as of March 1, 2021.

### Other entrants

The following pairs received a wildcard into the doubles main draw:

* Sarah Behbehani / Çağla Büyükakçay
* Eden Silva / Rosalie van der Hoek

The following pairs received entry into the doubles main draw using protected rankings:

* Natela Dzalamidze / Cornelia Lister
* Andreja Klepač / Sania Mirza
* Aleksandra Krunić / Alexandra Panova
* Elena Rybakina / Yaroslava Shvedova

### Withdrawals

**Before the tournament**

* Zhang Shuai / Zheng Saisai → replaced by Shelby Rogers / Zheng Saisai
* Sharon Fichman / Monica Niculescu → replaced by Monica Niculescu / Anastasia Potapova

### Retirements

* Monica Niculescu / Anastasia Potapova (eye injury)
