Sabalenka is far from the only top-ranked player to struggle during the Middle East swing of the WTA schedule. Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek, and Qinwen Zheng have all suffered early exits in Doha and Dubai.

Aryna Sabalenka has blamed a lack of hunger and focus on court for her last-16 exit in Dubai at the hands of world number 38 Clara Tauson on Wednesday. The world number one has won just one of the three matches she contested during this Middle East swing,

Aryna Sabalena has admitted that she doesn’t feel ‘hungry’ during matches at the moment, after suffering a shocking defeat to world No 38 Clara Tauson at the WTA 1000 in Dubai. The world No 1 looked far more like her usual self during her opening match against Veronika Kudermetova,

Denmark's Clara Tauson scored just the second Top 10 victory of her career with a stunning victory over World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the Round of 16 of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff have made a slow start to 2025. The maiden major for Madison Keys might have taken more out of their legs than the schedule.

It promises to be an entertaining fourth day at the WTA Dubai Tennis Championships with 12 matches on the schedule in the UAE. As always, we here at LWOT will be offering our predicitions for every match including Iga Swiatek vs Dayana Yastremska.