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LONDON

For a second year in a row, Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski and her playing partner Yifan Xu are off to the semi-finals at the All England Club. The No.4-seeded pair were dominant in their straight-sets victory over Danielle Collins and Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-1, 6-3. Dabrowski and Xu have yet to drop a set throughout these Championships.

The duo made quick work of their American opponents, winning the match in just over an hour. Once again, as has been the case all tournament long, Dabrowski and Xu were excellent on serve. They lost just 12 service points  throughout the match, winning 75% of their points on serve. The 2018 Wimbledon semifinalists also saved all three break points they faced, while converting four of their nine break point chances.

Despite coming into Wimbledon with a 1-3 record on grass, Dabrowski and Xu have won four matches in a row to reach the semi-finals at the All England Club for a second consecutive year. In 2018, the pair lost in their first-ever Grand Slam semi-final as a team. They fell to Nicole Melichar and Kvete Peschke in three sets 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 at Wimbledon.

But, just a short year later, Dabrowski and Xu will have a chance to improve on that result. In order to best that, they will have to get through the No.2-seeded Czech team of Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova on Friday. If the Canadian-Chinese duo were to win, it would mark the first time Dabrowski has ever attained a Grand Slam final in women’s doubles.

Photo: Mauricio Paiz

Later in the day, playing alongside Mate Pavic, Dabrowski failed to reach a third straight Grand Slam quarter-final in mixed doubles. The No.3-seeded duo lost in Wimbledon’s third round to Artem Sitak and Laura Siegemund 5-7, 7-6(5), 13-12(5) in a marathon match that lasted over three hours.

Dabrowski and Pavic got off to a rocky start. In the opening set, trailing 4-1, the Canadian-Croatian duo managed to score a break and win three straight games to level the set. Trailing 5-4, they then repeated their effort to close out the first set.

After dropping the second set in a tiebreak, Dabrowski and Pavic kept fighting to stay alive and advance. At 5-5, they were broken for just the second time in the match, allowing Sitak and Siegemund to serve for a spot in the quarters.  But the Canadian-Croatian duo fought back. After saving match point, the pair leveled the set to 6-6 with a break of their own – thanks to a forehand winner from Pavic.

However, after both teams held serve to force a decisive tiebreak, the No.3-seeds failed to save match point in the tiebreaker when Siegemund struck a solid forehand winner. It was a heartbreaking way to lose for both Pavic and Dabrowski. The third and decisive set took over 90 minutes to complete.

Taha falls in singles, but scores in doubles

Photo: Mauricio Paiz

Taha Baadi was eliminated in the third round of the boys’ singles event, losing the the No.4-seeded Martin Damm in straight sets 6-2, 6-3. It was going to be a tough challenge for the 17 year old from Laval, who was playing the highest seeded player remaining in his American counterpart, Damm.

Playing in just his second Junior Grand Slam event, Baadi later told TSN’s Mark Masters that he couldn’t find much of a rhythm against the big-serving lefty. “He put me in an uncomfortable position the whole match,” Baadi said of  Damm. “I didn’t serve well. I didn’t return well.”

But the Canadian teen didn’t have too much time to dwell on the loss. Later in the day, Baadi returned to the court for his first-round boys’ doubles match. Taha and his Romanian teammate Filip Cristian Jianu scored a straight-sets victory over Leandro Riedi and Dalibor Svrcina 6-3, 6-1. Shortly before that match ended, on Court No. 4, Canadian Liam Draxl and his American playing partner Govind Nanda won their opening-round match in straight sets over Nicholas David Ionel and Wojciech Marek 7-6(4), 7-6(5). Draxl and Nanda are the No.7-seeded pair in the boys’ doubles draw.

(Photo: Mauricio Paiz)

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