(New York) Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and partner Erin Routliffe won the U.S. Open women’s doubles final 7-6(9), 6-3 over the tandem of Germany’s Laura Siegemund and the Russian Vera Zvonareva, Sunday afternoon in New York.
For Dabrowski, a 31-year-old from Ottawa, this is her first women’s doubles title at a Grand Slam tournament, in her second final.
In 2019, Dabrowski and the Chinese Xu Yifan lost the final match at Wimbledon against the duo composed of the Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei and the Czech Barbora Strycova.
Dabrowski is the first Canadian champion at a major tournament since 2019, when Bianca Andreescu was the queen of Flushing Meadows.
In regular doubles, the last case of the country’s athlete winning the final was Wimbledon in 2014, when British Columbian Vasek Pospisil and American Jack Sock took it all.
At this tournament, Dabrowski was teamed with Routliffe, an athlete who was born in New Zealand but grew up in Caledon, Ontario, and has previously represented Canada.
“To win with a Canadian – even though she’s representing New Zealand, which I also love very much – is incredible for our country,” Dabrowski told TSN. It shows the quality of the tennis that is played here. I am happy with the outcome of this season, because it has not been easy for either of us. »
Furthermore, this triumph is added to the two titles that Dabrowski won in mixed doubles at Grand Slam tournaments.
In 2017, at Roland-Garros, Dabrowski teamed up with Indian Rohan Bopanna to defeat Anna-Lena Grönefeld and Robert Farah.
The following year, Dabrowski and Croatian Mate Pavic won the mixed doubles at the Australian Open against Timea Babos and Bopanna.
Furthermore, Dabrowski and Routliffe converted three of their seven break chances. These breaks were all made during the second set, including during what would prove to be the final play of the match.
“Gabriela really took a chance with me. I appreciate her very much and I love her very much for giving me this opportunity, Routliffe said. I hope we will have many more great results like this. »
Dabrowski returned the compliment.
“You took a chance with me too,” she said. It’s been a difficult year for all of us. I’m very, very proud of how we stayed together these last two weeks, no matter what happened. »
Dabrowski and Routliffe only faltered once in their serve, despite conceding nine break chances to their opponents. Five of those break opportunities came in the first set, but Dabrowski and Routliffe repelled them all.
Intractable for 12 games of the opening set, all four players suddenly had trouble winning their serve in the first set tiebreaker.
Dabrowski and Routliffe suffered four mini-breaks, but they managed five, which allowed them to win the first round.
Dabrowski and Routliffe started the second set strongly, winning the first three games, including two in the service of their rivals.
They lost their serve in the fourth game, but then only conceded three points on their serve before ending the duel with a final break.
This is the second time in 2023 that a Canadian has participated in a women’s doubles final at a Grand Slam tournament.
At the French Open, Laval resident Leylah Fernandez achieved this feat alongside American Taylor Townsend. However, they lost in three sets against Hsieh Su-wei and the Chinese Wang Xinyu.