Editor’s note: Andy Murray has withdrawn from Dubai due to a hip issue.

A meeting between fifth seed Hubert Hurkacz and 2017 champion Andy Murray headlines the first-round action at next week’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, where Novak Djokovic, Andrey Rublev and Daniil Medvedev lead the field at the hard-court ATP 500.

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Both Hurkacz and Murray will arrive in Dubai off the back of deep runs at ATP 250 level in the past week. The World No. 11 Hurkacz plays his semi-final in Marseille on Saturday, with former World No. 1 Murray due on court in the Doha championship match against Medvedev shortly after.

Hurkacz leads Murray 2-1 in the pair’s ATP Head2Head series, but the pair has not played since 2021. Should the winner of the Dubai clash go on to reach the quarter-finals, they could face top seed Djokovic.

The Serbian has been drawn to play a qualifier in his first match since lifting a record-equalling 22nd Grand Slam title at January’s Australian Open. Djokovic, a five-time champion in Dubai, would face Tallon Griekspoor or Constant Lestienne in the second round if he prevails in his opener.

Third seed Medvedev is a potential semi-final rival for all of Djokovic, Hurkacz and Murray. The Rotterdam champion leads the second quarter of the draw in Dubai, where he also opens against a qualifier. Medvedev’s quarter-final opponent could be the winner of a first-round matchup between eighth seed Borna Coric and Daniel Evans.

In the bottom half of the draw, Rublev begins his title defence against Filip Krajinovic, with Karen Khachanov a potential quarter-final challenger for the second seed. The 25-year-old Rublev will be playing for his sixth ATP 500 crown.

A stacked third quarter offers plenty of intriguing first-round matchups, including fourth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime taking on the serve-and-volley game of Maxime Cressy. Seventh seed Alexander Zverev meets the fast-rising 21-year-old Jiri Lehecka, with the winner guaranteed to face a big-serving threat in the second round from Marc-Andrea Huesler or Lorenzo Sonego.

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