DUBAI CITY, United Arab Emirates — The second-seeded team of Ottawa's Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand's Erin Routliffe advanced to the women's doubles quarterfinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships with a 5-7, 6-2, 10-6 second-round win over China's Zhang Shuai and Kazakhstan's Anna Danilina on Wednesday.
After losing a close first set, Dabrowski and Routliffe responded with a dominant second set. They saved the only break point they faced while breaking their opponents twice on six chances.
They then won 100 per cent of first-serve points, including their lone ace of the match, to take the third set.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face the sixth-seeded duo of Ukraine's Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 tournament.
It's a rematch from this year's Australian Open semifinals, which Kichenok and Ostapenko won 7-5, 7-5.
Wednesday's win was a bounce back for Dabrowski and Routliffe, who were upset in the second round of the Qatar Open last week by Ekaterina Alexandrova and Irina Khromacheva of Russia.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 21, 2024.
The Canadian Press
