Svetlana Kuznetsova eyes 2017 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships trophy

After three finals appearances over thirteen years, tour veteran Svetlana Kuznetsova has set her sights on finally laying claim to the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships trophy.

The 31 year old Russian has fallen just short on three occasions, finishing as runner-up to Justine Henin in 2004, Elena Dementieva in 2008 and Caroline Wozniacki in 2011. But the tour veteran is now playing her best tennis in years and after Wimbledon last year her efforts were rewarded with a return to the top 10 for the first time since 2010.

She continued to go from strength to strength during the second half of the 2016 season, retaining her Moscow title, reaching the semi-finals of Wuhan and Tianjin and the quarter-finals of Montreal and Cincinnati before finishing the year with a run to the semi-finals of the WTA Finals in Singapore. Her run to the fourth round at the Australian Open this year before falling to Anastasia Pavyluchenkova saw her climb in the rankings to number eight.

She will be playing in Dubai for the 14th time, missing just one year since her debut in 2003, and Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of Dubai Duty Free, the tournament owners and organisers, has witnessed all of her ups and downs.

Kuznetsova is just one of seven top 10 players who will be chasing the title, as well as a host of others who have proved just as capable of claiming the sought-after trophy such as world number two and 2016 Australian and US Open champion Angelique Kerber, 2016 French Open winner Garbine Muguruza, WTA Finals winner Dominika Cibulkova, 2017 Brisbane champion Karolina Pliskova, 2017 Sydney winner Johanna Konta and former Dubai champions Caroline Wozniacki, Sara Errani and Agnieszka Radwanska.

Action gets underway first with the WTA event on 19 February, followed by the ATP World tour event from 27th February. The ATP line-up includes world number one Andy Murray; Australian Open champion and seven-time Dubai winner Roger Federer; Dubai defending champion, winner of three Grand Slams and world number three Stan Wawrinka; two time Dubai finalist Tomas Berdych and the entertaining world number nine Gael Monfils.

The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships is owned and organised by Dubai Duty Free, and held under the patronage of H. H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Tickets for every day of the event including the finals are still available from the Box Office at the Dubai Tennis Stadium, Garhoud which opens from 9am to 9pm daily.

For further information about tickets, prices and the tournament visit www.dubaidutyfreetennischampionships.com