2021 Abu Dhabi Women's Tennis Open
# 2021 Abu Dhabi Women's Tennis Open

The 2021 Abu Dhabi Women's Tennis Open was a women's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the inaugural professional edition of the event and a WTA 500 tournament on the 2021 WTA Tour. It took place at the Zayed Sports City International Tennis Centre in Abu Dhabi, from 6 to 13 January 2021.

## Finals

### Singles

* Aryna Sabalenka def. Veronika Kudermetova, 6–2, 6–2

### Doubles

* Shuko Aoyama / Ena Shibahara def. Hayley Carter / Luisa Stefani, $7–6^{(7–5)},$ 6–4

## Points and prize money

### Point distribution

| Event | W | F | SF | QF | Round of 16 | Round of 32 | Round of 64 | Q | Q2 | Q1 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Singles | 470 | 305 | 185 | 100 | 55 | 30 | 1 | 25 | 13 | 1 |
| Doubles | 470 | 305 | 185 | 100 | 55 | 1 | — | — | — | — |

### Prize money

| Event | W | F | SF | QF | Round of 16 | Round of 32 | Round of 64 | Q2 | Q1 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Singles | $68,570 | $50,130 | $26,745 | $12,675 | $6,480 | $4,100 | $2,500 | $1,925 | $1,000 |
| Doubles* | $20,890 | $13,370 | $8,350 | $4,310 | $2,670 | $2,020 | — | — | — |

$_{*perteam}$

## Singles main-draw entrants

### Seeds

| Country | Player | $Rank^1$ | Seed |
| - | - | - | - |
| USA | Sofia Kenin | 4 | 1 |
| UKR | Elina Svitolina | 5 | 2 |
| CZE | Karolína Plíšková | 6 | 3 |
| BLR | Aryna Sabalenka | 10 | 4 |
| ESP | Garbiñe Muguruza | 15 | 5 |
| KAZ | Elena Rybakina | 19 | 6 |
| BEL | Elise Mertens | 20 | 7 |
| CZE | Markéta Vondroušová | 21 | 8 |
| GRE | Maria Sakkari | 22 | 9 |
| EST | Anett Kontaveit | 23 | 10 |
| USA | Jennifer Brady | 24 | 11 |
| CZE | Karolína Muchová | 27 | 12 |
| KAZ | Yulia Putintseva | 28 | 13 |
| USA | Amanda Anisimova | 30 | 14 |
| TUN | Ons Jabeur | 31 | 15 |
| CRO | Donna Vekić | 32 | 16 |
| RUS | Ekaterina Alexandrova | 33 | 17 |

* $^1$ Rankings are as of December 21, 2020

### Other entrants

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

* Yaroslava Shvedova
* Zhu Lin

The following player received entry as an alternate:

* Ulrikke Eikeri

The following players received entry from the qualifying draw:

* Kateryna Bondarenko
* Anna Bondár
* Anastasia Gasanova
* Amandine Hesse
* Lucie Hradecká
* Lucrezia Stefanini
* Bianca Turati
* Yang Zhaoxuan

The following players received entry as lucky losers:

* Jodie Burrage
* Valentini Grammatikopoulou
* Despina Papamichail

### Withdrawals

**before the tournament**

* Amanda Anisimova → replaced by Ulrikke Eikeri
* Belinda Bencic → replaced by Vera Zvonareva
* Sorana Cîrstea → replaced by Despina Papamichail
* Danielle Collins → replaced by Tamara Zidanšek
* Fiona Ferro → replaced by Jodie Burrage
* Caroline Garcia → replaced by Jasmine Paolini
* Svetlana Kuznetsova → replaced by Wang Xiyu
* Elise Mertens → replaced by Valentini Grammatikopoulou
* Jeļena Ostapenko → replaced by Marta Kostyuk
* Kateřina Siniaková → replaced by Aliaksandra Sasnovich
* Patricia Maria Țig → replaced by Anastasia Potapova
* Alison Van Uytvanck → replaced by Jamie Loeb
* Zheng Saisai → replaced by Leylah Fernandez

**during the tournament**

* Karolína Muchová

### Retirements

* Kirsten Flipkens

## Doubles main-draw entrants

### Seeds

| Country | Player | Country | Player | $Rank^1$ | Seed |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| TPE | Hsieh Su-wei | CZE | Barbora Krejčíková | 8 | 1 |
| BEL | Elise Mertens | BLR | Aryna Sabalenka | 11 | 2 |
| USA | Nicole Melichar | NED | Demi Schuurs | 23 | 3 |
| BEL | Kirsten Flipkens | FRA | Kristina Mladenovic | 33 | 4 |
| JPN | Shuko Aoyama | JPN | Ena Shibahara | 45 | 5 |
| CHI | Alexa Guarachi | USA | Desirae Krawczyk | 51 | 6 |
| CHN | Xu Yifan | CHN | Yang Zhaoxuan | 64 | 7 |
| USA | Hayley Carter | BRA | Luisa Stefani | 68 | 8 |

* Rankings are as of December 21, 2020

### Other entrants

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

* Kateryna Bondarenko / Nadiia Kichenok
* Elena Rybakina / Yaroslava Shvedova

The following pairs received entry into the doubles main draw as alternates:

* Jasmine Paolini / Martina Trevisan
* Nadia Podoroska / Sara Sorribes Tormo

### Withdrawals

**Before the tournament**

* Elise Mertens / Aryna Sabalenka → replaced by Nadia Podoroska / Sara Sorribes Tormo
* Kirsten Flipkens / Kristina Mladenovic → replaced by Jasmine Paolini / Martina Trevisan

**During the tournament**

* Karolína Muchová / Markéta Vondroušová
