Gabriela Dabrowski, of Canada, right, returns a shot alongside doubles partner Erin Routliffe, of New Zealand, left, during the women's doubles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships against Laura Siegemund, of Germany, and Vera Zvonareva, of Russia, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023, in New York. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Manu Fernandez
MELBOURNE, Australia – After a shaky start to their women’s doubles quarterfinal match, Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa and partner Erin Routliffe of New Zealand – who now resides in Montreal – settled down and showed why they’re the fourth-seeded combo at this year’s Australian Open.
After falling behind 2-0, Dabrowski and Routliffe rallied to beat Cristina Bucsa of Moldova and Alexandra Panova of Russia 7-5 in the first set, before beating them 6-2 in an easier second set to win the match in one hour, 20 minutes to advance to the semifinals.
Dabrowski and Routliffe finished with 25 winners, eight aces, one double fault and 16 unforced errors. Bucsa and Panova had 21 winners, 21 unforced errors, two double faults and only one ace.
Dabrowski and Routliffe defeated Jiang Xinyu and Hanyu Guo of China 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 on Sunday in the third round. Bucsa and Panova defeated Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil and Taylor Townsend of Chicago 6-2, 6-4, also on Sunday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will play Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in the semifinals. Kichenok and Ostapenko defeated French combo Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic 7-6 (2), 6-4 earlier on Monday.
BASELINES: Dabrowski is scheduled to team up with American Nathaniel Lammons in mixed doubles quarterfinal action later on Monday against Australians Olivia Gadecki and Marc Polmans.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 22, 2024.
