ATP Dubai Tennis Championships 2020, Round of 16: Leander Paes/Matthew Ebden vs Ivan Dodig/Filip Polasek

ATP Dubai Tennis Championships 2020, Round of 16: Leander Paes/Matthew Ebden vs Ivan Dodig/Filip Polasek | Where to watch and Live Stream details

By Sohinee Basu

Modified Feb 24, 2020 19:15 GMT

Having bid his farewell to the Indian tennis courts, Leander Paes will be saying his final goodbyes at the Aviation Club Tennis Centre to the Dubai Championships 2020. Continuing his great partnership with Australian Matthew Ebden, the 18-time Grand Slam champion will make a final appearance in Dubai for the ATP 500 tournament.

Being granted wildcards to the event, Ebden and Paes will hope to make the most of this rave opportunity as they take on second-seeded pair of Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek.

Paes and Ebden really conjured some magical tennis during their matches in India at the Maharashtra Open and the Bengaluru Challenger. In fact, such was the magic of the duo that the Indo-Australian pair went on to finish as the finalists at the Bengaluru ATP Challenger event. However, Dubai will definitely not be an easy hunting ground and Paes and Ebden will have to give it their all if they hope to make it beyond the Round of 16 and into the quarter-finals.

The clear favourite going into the match is obviously the Croatian-Slovakian pair of Dodig and Polasek, who also had a magnificent run at the Australian Open 2020, finishing as the semi-finalists of the tournament. It will be no doubt difficult to defeat the second-seeded pair but with Paes, one can never know what the veteran has up his sleeve. It remains to be seen if Leander and Ebden conjure magic yet again or it is Dodig and Polasek who have the last laugh.