Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani will not be competing for the title at the WTA Finals after falling to Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend in straight sets 7-6 (4), 6-3 in the semifinals on Saturday night.
Siniakova and Townsend are now 3-0 against Dabrowski and Stefani this season, adding to wins in the semifinals at Roland-Garros and Miami.
Siniakova, who secured a record sixth year-end No. 1 doubles ranking, will head to her 10th doubles final in 2026, looking for her first WTA Finals crown since 2021. Siniakova and Townsend were the doubles runners-up in 2024 after falling to Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe.
Siniakova and Townsend won five titles together this season, including two Grand Slams (Roland-Garros, US Open) and three WTA 1000 titles (Madrid, Miami and Indian Wells).
Dabrowski and Stefani end their season with six WTA titles and 56 wins as a team.
The opening set was as tightly contested as expected between the top elite teams. Both pairs held on each of their first four service games, facing only one break point combined, which Siniakova and Townsend saved.
The top-seeded pair of Dabrowski and Stefani got off to a much faster start on Saturday. After struggling with their serves in Friday’s group stage match against Su-Wei Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko, where they were broken three times in the first set, both women were able to hold throughout and send the set to a tiebreak.
Townsend earned the first mini-break of the tiebreak as she fired a blistering return down the line off a second-serve attempt to take a 4-3 lead. The No. 2 seeds clinched the first three points later by earning another mini-break to win the set 7-6 (4).
Siniakova and Townsend carried that momentum into the second set and made a statement in the opening game, earning a break at love to take a 1-0 lead.
After a strong hold from Dabrowski and Stefani, the pair looked poised to take control of the set after earning a triple break point, but Siniakova and Townsend were able to come all the way back for the hold to snatch all the momentum right back.
The Canadian-Brazilian pair cracked the door open a bit with a gutsy hold on their next service game, fighting off two break points to bring the set back to 4-3. Unfortunately for the top-seeded pair, they could not pull off the comeback, as Siniakova and Townsend would complete one final break - after a pair of crucial double faults from Stefani with a chance to extend the match - to take the second set 6-3.
Dabrowski and Stefani made it through the group stage with a perfect 3-0 performance, beating the pairings of Hanyu Guo-Kristina Mladenovic, Elise Mertens-Shuai Zhang, and Hsieh- Ostapenko.
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Feature Photo: Sarah-Jäde Champagne / Agence KICK inc.
