Victoria Mboko withdrew from the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships due to a right-elbow injury, marking the seventh withdrawal of the event. Barbora Krejcikova also pulled out with a left-thigh injury, allowing Amanda Anisimova to advance via walkover. The tournament saw several upsets, including Leylah Fernandez's loss to Janice Tjen and Emma Raducanu's defeat by Antonia Ruzic.
The 2026 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships experienced a wave of withdrawals and competitive first-round matches on February 16. Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko, who reached the final of the Qatar TotalEnergies Open in Doha and entered the top 10 in the PIF WTA Rankings, cited a right-elbow injury for her exit ahead of her first-round match. She became the seventh player to withdraw, following others including Maria Sakkari and Zheng Qinwen due to illness, Elisabetta Cocciaretto with a left-thigh injury, Aryna Sabalenka with a right-hip injury, Iga Swiatek due to a schedule change, and Karolina Muchova for similar reasons.
Barbora Krejcikova, the 2023 Dubai champion, withdrew ahead of her second-round match against Amanda Anisimova because of a left-thigh injury. Krejcikova had earlier defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-4 in the first round. As a result, Anisimova received a walkover and advanced to the third round to face Janice Tjen. Lucky loser Petra Marcinko replaced Mboko and will play Jaqueline Cristian in the first round.
In other notable results, wild card Janice Tjen upset Leylah Fernandez 7-6 (5), 6-4, advancing to the third round of a WTA 1000 event for the first time. Fernandez, ranked 29th, served for the first set twice but converted just 39 percent of her second-serve points and committed six double faults. Lucky loser Antonia Ruzic, ranked 67th, defeated Emma Raducanu 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 for her first career Top 30 win, recovering from a 5-3 second-set lead loss and a 2-0 third-set deficit. Anna Kalinskaya edged Jelena Ostapenko in three sets, improving to 4-0 against the 2022 champion. No. 16 seed Iva Jovic won a three-setter 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 over lucky loser Kamilla Rakhimova.
Mboko reflected on the challenges of the schedule after her Doha semifinal, stating, "It is a lot of matches, and the tournaments are really close to each other, so it's hard to try to manage that." The event continues with matches like Coco Gauff versus Kalinskaya scheduled.