Jabeur, Raducanu enjoy Abu Dhabi during exhibition event

Looking ahead to 2023, Ons Jabeur and Emma Raducanu hit the court in Abu Dhabi on Friday in the women’s exhibition match of the Mubadala Tennis World Cup.

It was a long-awaited debut in the UAE capital for Raducanu, who had hoped to play against Belinda Bencic in last year’s women’s showpiece, but had to pull out after testing positive for COVID-19.

Coincidentally, Jabeur replaced him and beat Bencic in three sets to win the title in a place he says “feels like home”.

Against Raducanu, Jabeur did it again: In a well-played but good-natured display, Jabeur retained his title 5-7, 6-3, [10-8]. The pair has yet to play on the Hologic WTA Tour.

Despite the loss, 2021 US Open champion Raducanu was in good spirits before, during and after his first competitive match of any kind since his 2022 season ended in October due to a wrist injury. She was dropped from Great Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup finals team in November as a result.

Britti won four straight games from a 5-3 deficit in the first set, but failed to convert an 8-6 lead in the 10-point match tiebreak.

ATP players have competed at the Mubadala World Tennis Championships annually since 2009, and a one-day women’s exhibition was added to the tournament in 2017. Jelena Ostapenko won the opening set against Serena Williams, and Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova were other previous winners.

If social media was anything to go by, Raducanu and Jabeur were enjoying the event alongside their male counterparts, including Andrey Rublev, Cameron Norrie and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

World No.2 Jabeur officially opens the 2023 season at the Adelaide International 1, while Raducanu heads to Auckland, New Zealand for the return of the ASB Classic.