(New York) Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and her New Zealand playing partner Erin Routliffe never let up and defeated Laval’s Leylah Annie Fernandez and American Taylor Townsend 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 [10-8], Tuesday, to reach the semifinals of the United States Open in women’s doubles.
Dabrowski and Routliffe, 16th seeds, had to work hard to win after a duel lasting two hours 32 minutes.
In the semi-finals, they will face the winners of the duel between the Americans Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff, our 3, with the Taiwanese Su-Wei Hsieh and the Chinese Xinyu Wang, our 8.
Dabrowski and Routliffe managed to turn the page on a difficult first set, won in 40 minutes by Fernandez and Townsend, our 6s.
The tension was to be cut with a knife in the Louis-Armstrong stadium once made in the final round. Dabrowski and Routliffe took the lead 4-1, but saw Fernandez and Townsend win the next three games to create the stalemate 4-4. Fernandez was broken on serve in the interminable next game, but Dabrowski was unable to close the books on serve for the game.
Townsend and Routliffe then won their service game, forcing the presentation of a super tiebreaker. Fernandez and Townsend then quickly took an advantage of 5-1. However, two consecutive double faults from Townsend brought their rivals back into the game.
The match ended when Routliffe managed to cushion a powerful strike from the opposition. The ball barely crossed the net before bouncing weakly, leaving no chance for Fernandez or Townsend to return it into play.
Fernandez and Townsend had eventually reached the final at the French Open. They were also finalists at the Miami Open earlier this season.
Dabrowski, 31, reached the women’s doubles semifinals at the US Open for the second time. She had accomplished the feat in 2021 with Stefani. The latter had to give up during this match due to a knee injury.
Routliffe will be making her first semifinals at Flushing Meadows.
She and Dabrowski are in their fourth tournament together. They began their association in August at the National Bank Open in Montreal.