Tunisian tennis star Ons Jabeur has replaced US Open champion Emma Raducanu at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship, organisers announced on Tuesday night. Raducanu, 19, had been scheduled to face Olympic gold medallist Belinda Bencic in the one-off women's match on Thursday but was <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/tennis/2021/12/13/raducanu-out-of-mubadala-world-tennis-championship-after-testing-positive-for-covid-19/" target="_blank">forced to withdraw</a> after testing positive for Covid-19. Jabeur has therefore been drafted in last-minute and she flew to Abu Dhabi on Tuesday evening in order to take part at the pre-season event at Zayed Sports City. "See you soon in Abu Dhabi," Jabuer, 27, tweeted. Jabeur is the leading star of Arab tennis and has enjoyed a breakthrough season this year. Having already become the first Arab woman to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final at the Australian Open last year, Jabeur became the first to do so again when she <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/tennis/2021/07/05/ons-jabeur-makes-more-wimbledon-history-after-beating-iga-swiatek-to-reach-quarter-finals/" target="_blank">made it to the last eight at Wimbledon</a> this summer. In the week prior to Wimbledon, Jabeur became the first Arab woman to win a WTA Tour title when she <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/tennis/ons-jabeur-becomes-first-arab-woman-to-win-wta-title-after-birmingham-classic-triumph-1.1245334" target="_blank">clinched the Birmingham Classic</a>. The world No 10, who reached a career-high No 7 this year, is the highest-ranked Arab player, female or male, in tennis history. There were also two changes to the MWTC men's tournament on Tuesday night, with American Taylor Fritz and Dan Evans of Great Britain brought in to replace Austria's former US Open champion Dominic Thiem and Norwegian world No 8 Casper Ruud. Thiem has been sidelined with a wrist injury since June and MWTC has come too soon for his return. "I was looking forward to making my return to competition at Abu Dhabi but I feel that I am yet not ready to compete at the highest level," Thiem said in a statement. "It's disappointing to not take part this year but I need to continue my preparation for the upcoming season. I truly hope to return to the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in the future." Fritz, the world No 23, and 25th-ranked Evans will join 20-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal, former world No 1 Andy Murray, world No 5 Andrey Rublev, and 14th-ranked Denis Shapovalov in the six-player men's tournament. The action at the International Tennis Centre gets underway with the two quarter-finals on Thursday, with the winners advancing to face Nadal and Rublev - the tournament's two top seeds - in the semi-finals. The day will be completed by the women's match between Jabeur and Bencic. Friday will host the two semi-finals and the fifth-place playoff, before Saturday stages the final and third-place playoff. In line with the latest government guidelines, MWTC will welcome fans with green status on the Al Hosn app and a negative PCR test result with 96-hour validity across the three days of the tournament. MWTC is also accessible to international visitors after Abu Dhabi’s recent lifting of quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated travellers. Tickets start from Dh100 for adults and Dh50 for children, and are available from <a href="http://ticketmaster.ae/">ticketmaster.ae</a> and Virgin Megastores across the UAE. In line with current protocols, measures will be in place within the stadium and throughout the Tennis Village to ensure the health and safety of fans, players and officials. More details are available on <a href="http://www.mubadalawtc.com/">www.mubadalawtc.com</a>
