Her next opponent will be the Swiss Jil Teichmann (WTA 104), seeded N.1 in the qualifications for this hard surface event endowed with 703,580 dollars. Second Belgian engaged in qualifying, Maryna Zanevska (WTA 68) faces the Chinese Lin Zhu (WTA 114) on Saturday.
Flipkens and Zanevska will try to join Elise Mertens in the final table. The Limbourgeoise, 26th in the world, will be opposed to a qualifier in the 1st round. If she qualifies, the Belgian N.1 could find in the second round the Estonian Anett Kontaveit, 9th in the world and seeded N.7.
Elise Mertens reached the semi-finals last year in Dubai. She had been beaten by Garbine Muguruza (WTA 6), who then won the tournament. The Spaniard will defend her title in the Gulf with the N.4 seed status, Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (WTA 2) being the N.1 seed.
