Elena Rybakina returns as Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open confirms complete line-up

Elena Rybakina will be the highest-ranked player at the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open next month after organisers on Tuesday released the complete line-up for the WTA 500 tournament.

Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan)
Ons Jabeur (Tunisia)
Maria Sakkari (Greece)
Barbora Krejčíková (Czech Republic)
Beatriz Haddad Maia (Brazil)
Jeļena Ostapenko (Latvia)
Liudmila Samsonova
Daria Kasatkina
Veronika Kudermetova
Caroline Garcia (France)
Magda Linette (Poland)
Sorana Cîrstea (Romania)
Anastasia Potapova
Anhelina Kalinina (Ukraine)
Jasmine Paolini (Italy)
Emma Navarro (USA)
Lesia Tsurenko (Ukraine)
Emma Raducanu (Great Britain) – wildcard

Rybakina, the world No 3, returns to Abu Dhabi for the February 3-11 event at Zayed Sports City's International Tennis Centre, having reached the quarter-finals last year. She also made the last eight of the Abu Dhabi Women's Tennis Open, held in 2021 as a one-off event during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 24-year-old Kazakh will be joined in Abu Dhabi by fellow top-10 players Maria Sakkari of Greece and the Czech Republic’s former French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova.

Tunisian star and world No 6 Ons Jabeur was announced as the tournament's headline star last October, while Brazil's 11th-ranked Beatriz Haddad Maia was confirmed to play last week.

In all, half of the WTA Tour's top 20 will compete at the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open, including Latvia's Jeļena Ostapenko, last year's finalist Liudmila Samsonova, Daria Kasatkina, Veronika Kudermetova, and Caroline Garcia of France.

Britain's Emma Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion, was this week given a wildcard, while other players confirmed include Poland’s Magda Linette, Sorana Cirstea of Romania, Anastasia Potapova, Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina and Italy’s Jasmine Paolini.

Switz