Will third times be the charm for Gabriela Dabrowski?
The Ottawa-native made her third-career Wimbledon final, and a first alongside partner Luisa Stefani, thanks to a 7-5, 6-3 win in Friday’s semifinal against Shuko Aoyama of Japan and En-Shuo Liang of Chinese Taipei. Dabrowski lost both of her previous finals appearances at the All-England Club (2019 and 2024).
Dabrowski and Stefani’s delivery was virtually unplayable as the No. 2 seeds wrapped up the match in a little over an hour. The Canadian-Brazilian duo only conceded five points on serve, winning 92 per cent of their first-serve points on the day. The pair then broke on two of five opportunities to bring them across the finish line and into Sunday’s Championship.
Right from the start, Dabrowski and Stefani cruised through their service games, winning 11-straight points behind their delivery before holding on the second attempt at 2-2, 40-love. On return, the Canadian-Brazilian team was unable to get much going in the early stages. The closest they came to a break point was at deuce in the eighth game, but Aoyama and Liang won the next two rallies to keep the set even.
However, Dabrowski and Stefani put the pressure on late with a chance to avoid a tiebreaker at 5-6, 15-40, where it took the second seeds one try to clinch the opening set.
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Dabrowski and Stefani’s serve was just as dominant to start of the second. The pair didn’t a single point in their first three service games and held comfortably from 3-3, 40-15. Again, the Dubai champions saved their push for later in the set as they held double break point at 3-4, 15-40. Aoyama and Liang managed to crawl back and force deuce, but Dabrowski and Stefani won back-to-back points to break and gain the chance to serve for the match.
For the first time in the contest, Dabrowski and Stefani trailed in a service game at 5-3, love-15; however, the Canadian-Brazilian duo won the next four balls to punch their ticket into Sunday’s final.
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Dabrowski and Stefani await the winner of the second semifinal as No. 10 seeds Hanyu Guo of China and Kristina Mladenovic of France take on the all-Chinese team of Xinyu Jiang and Yifan Han.
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Feature Photo: Martin Sidorjak
