Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand partner Erin Routliffe lost 6-4, 7-6 (3) to Czech Katerina Siniakova and American Taylor Townsend at the WTA Finals on Tuesday.
The No. 3 seeds led 5-2 in the second set before Siniakova and Townsend rallied.
Routliffe could not serve out the set at 5-3 as Townsend’s return winner scored a key break.
Townsend then converted her first match point with a service winner in the ensuing tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe had defeated the same duo in the WTA Finals championship match last year and again in the US Open final this year.
The win evened the score between the two teams, with two wins apiece.
“It’s always hard when you lose to the same team, and it’s so close. At the US Open it was just a break in every set,” Townsend said in the on-court interview. “We’ve been working really hard in practice the last few days. We’ve been gathering all the data from the games we’ve played before, and came out and just wanted to execute the game plan.”
The winners scored another important break and the first set was tied 3-3. A lob from Townsend, followed by Siniakova’s volley winner, broke Dabrowski’s serve and put the No. 2 seeds under control.
Townsend was the only server not to be broken in the match as she and Siniakova improved to 2-0 in group play.
Dabrowski and Routliffe, now 1-1, will face Hungary’s Tímea Babos and Brazil’s Luisa Stefani in their final round-robin match.
#Dabrowski #Routliffe #fall #Siniakova #Townsend #WTA #Finals