Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
✨ to the finals they go ✨<br><br>Gabriela Dabrowski and <a href=”https://twitter.com/erinroutliffe?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@erinroutliffe</a> continue their undefeated run in Riyadh defeating Melichar-Martinez/Perez in straight sets.<a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/WTAFinalsRiyadh?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#WTAFinalsRiyadh</a> <a href=”https://t.co/hLnmVcPafZ”>pic.twitter.com/hLnmVcPafZ</a>
—@WTA