resim 125
resim 125

(Paris) About six weeks ago, Quebecer Leylah Fernandez and Ontarian Gabriela Dabrowski joined forces to win Canada at the Billie-Jean-King Cup. Now, here they are, getting ready to be rivals.

Fernandez and Dabrowski will indeed be on either side of the net in a third round match of the French Open women’s doubles.

Dabrowski and his Brazilian partner Luisa Stefani, seeded eighth in the tournament, advanced to the next round on Friday with a three-set victory of 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 over the tandem of Dalma Galfi, from Hungary, and Katarzyna Piter from Poland.

The match was mostly played on service, as Dabrowski and Stefani only double faulted once, compared to 15 for their opponents. Galfi and Piter only landed 49% of their first serves.

Meanwhile, Fernandez and 10th-seeded American Taylor Townsend converted five of their eight break chances on their way to a convincing 6-2, 6-1 victory over Taiwan’s Fang-Hsien Wu. and Ingrid Neel from Estonia.

Fernandez and Townsend have enjoyed success since they began their partnership last March. They reached the Miami Open final and the Madrid Open semi-finals, both WTA 1000 tournaments.

Dabrowski and Stefani have appeared in three quarter-final matches this season, including two at WTA 1000 tournaments.

In addition, Dabrowski also triumphed in mixed doubles, along with the American Nathaniel Lammons. In a first-round match, they got the better of the French duo of Chloé Paquet and Lucas Pouille 6-7 (3), 6-2 (10-8).

In the evening, Paris time, 26th-seeded Denis Shapovalov of Ontario will appear on the Philippe-Chatrier court to take on world number one, Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in a third-round match.