Qatar Total Open 2013 wildcards announced

The Qatar Tennis Federation is proud to announce the three main draw wildcard for the Qatar Total Open, February 11-17, 2013. First held in 2001, the Doha event was the first professional women’s tennis tournament staged in the Middle East and today it is a WTA Premier 5 event – bringing with it the greatest names in the sport. Joining the 56-player draw are Fatma Al Nabhani (Oman), OnsJabeur (Tunisia) and Heidi El Tabakh (Canada). Al Nabhani has won two ITF singles titles and four ITF doubles titles. From Muscat, Oman, 21-year old Al Nabhani began playing tennis at the age of four and her mother is her coach. She is a on the Oman Fed Cup team and has a current world ranking of No. 446. 18-year old Jabeur is a Tunisian player ranked No. 259 in the world. She won the PetitsDucs Tournament in Dijon in 2008 and is a two-time U16s champion in Africa. She reached the 2010 French Open junior girls’ singles final, where she lost to ElinaSvitolina. The following year, she won the 2011 French Open junior girls’ singles final by defeating Monica Puig. With this win, she became the first North African woman to a win a Grand Slam title in any category. El Tabakh is an Egyptian-born Canadian with a career-high ranking of No. 146 (October 8, 2012). Currently ranked No. 161, the 26-year old has won five ITF singles titles, nine ITF doubles titles and qualified for the main draw of singles at the French Open twice (2010 and 2012). Tournament Director, Saad Al Mohannadi, spoke of this year’s wildcards “We are honored to have another year with players of the highest caliber coming to the Qatar Total Open. These three players represent the amazing talent that has come from the region. We look forward to hosting an incredible week of tennis as these wildcards display their talents along with the rest of the WTA athletes.” These wildcards join a field that include last year’s champion and World No. 1, Victoria Azarenka; 2005 champion, Maria Sharapova, Grand Slam and Olympics champion, Serena Williams;2011 Wimbledon champion, Petra Kvitova; and 2012 Doha finalist Sam Stosur.