Mboko withdraws from Dubai Tennis Championships

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Victoria Mboko has become the next player to pull out of the 2026 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, citing a right-elbow injury.

Mboko, who cracked the top 10 in the PIF WTA Rankings for the first time in her career on Monday, becomes the seventh withdrawal from this year's tournament.

Dubai: Updated singles draw (PDF)

The Canadian teenager's decision comes after a run to the final at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open in Doha, where she fell to Karolina Muchova. Muchova, who won her first career 1000 event on WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz, also pulled out of Dubai because of a change in schedule. 

"It is a lot of matches, and the tournaments are really close to each other, so it's hard to try to manage that," Mboko said after her semifinal win in Qatar when asked about the quick turnaround between Doha and Dubai. "Of course, you want to manage your tournament schedule the best you can.

"From a recovery standpoint and doing good physio, having good fitness and good routines help you kind of last longer in that sense. I'm trying to improve that in a way. We're always focused on it, but I think it's important to also prioritize everything else off court that's not related to tennis."

Among other withdrawals included Maria Sakkari (illness), Zheng Qinwen (illness), Elisabetta Cocciaretto (left-thigh injury), Aryna Sabalenka (right-hip injury) and Iga Swiatek (change of schedule). 

Replacing Mboko will be lucky loser Petra Marcinko, who will face Jaqueline Cristian in the first round Monday evening.

The six other lucky loser alternates have included Antonia Ruzic, Anastasia Zakharova, Peyton Stearns, Magdalena Frech, Kamilla Rakhimova and Hailey Baptiste, the latter of which retired in her first-round match to Alexandra Eala.