Sabalenka is far from the only top-ranked player to struggle during the Middle East swing of the WTA schedule. Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek, and Qinwen Zheng have all suffered early exits in Doha and Dubai.

Clara Tauson on beating Aryna Sabalenka in Dubai “I tried to take my chance.. I’ve had a crazy 24 hours after yesterday. I slept maybe 5 hours & went to sleep at 3:30 am. I didn’t know what shape I’d come out here in. Pretty good one” 😂 pic.twitter.com/83pONQR8l5

Aryna Sabalenka has blamed a lack of hunger and focus on court for her last-16 exit in Dubai at the hands of world number 38 Clara Tauson on Wednesday. The world number one has won just one of the three matches she contested during this Middle East swing,

Aryna Sabalena has admitted that she doesn’t feel ‘hungry’ during matches at the moment, after suffering a shocking defeat to world No 38 Clara Tauson at the WTA 1000 in Dubai. The world No 1 looked far more like her usual self during her opening match against Veronika Kudermetova,