Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and partner Erin Routliffe of New Zealand will play for the women’s doubles championship at the U.S. Open.
The pair advanced to the final with a 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) semifinal win over the eighth-seeded duo of Taiwan’s Su-Wei Hsieh and China’s Xinyu Wang on Friday.
“The key is the same as it was last time: we stuck together no matter what happened on the court,” said Dabrowski. “I think tactically, we played really smart too and that helped us a lot, especially in the first set to get that quick head start.”
Dabrowski and Routliffe won 62 per cent of their first serves and converted seven of nine breakpoint opportunities.
Dabrowski, who has won a pair of Grand Slam titles in mixed doubles, has never won a women’s double title at a major event.
The 28-year-old Routliffe competes for New Zealand, where she was born, but grew up in Caledon, Ont. She previously competed for Canada.
“I’m just really ecstatic to be able to play in the finals,” said Routliffe right after the match finished.
The pair will face Germany’s Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva of Russia in Sunday’s final at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Siegemund and Zvonareva advanced with an 6-4, 6-1 victory over American Jennifer Brady and Luisa Stefani of Brazil in Friday’s other semifinal.
The women’s doubles final is Sunday at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT.
