Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani are alone atop of Group 1 at the WTA Finals thanks to their 7-6(5), 4-6, 10-5 victory over Hanyu Guo and Kristina Mladenovic on Wednesday.
Dabrowski and Stefani, who are 2-0 in round-robin play, earned their revenge on Guo and Mladenovic after they were defeated by the Chinese-French team in this year’s Wimbledon final.
Both pairs combined for 24 break points in their second meeting of the season, and were each broken three times in the opening set en route to the tiebreaker. Dabrowski and Stefani dipped in the second as they were broken twice on seven attempts, but the Canadian-Brazilian tandem dropped just two points from 3-3 in the match tiebreaker to seal the win in just over two hours.
Dabrowski and Stefani piled the pressure right out of the gates as the duo held a pair of break points at 30-40 in the opening game. The top seeds couldn’t convert but they soon had an identical opportunity at 1-1, 30-40, and were able to force the loss of serve on deciding point. However, Guo and Mladenovic capitalized on their first break point of the evening and immediately broke back to keep the set level at 2-2.
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The teams traded breaks two more times before the eventual tiebreaker, with Dabrowski and Stefani failing to serve out the set at 5-4.
The Canadian-Brazilian pair got out to a 3-1 lead in the tiebreaker, but that advantage was erased as Guo and Mladenovic won four of the next five points to take the 5-4 edge. Dabrowski and Stefani got back on track, though, winning both points behind their serve to hold set point, where a double fault gifted them the opener.
Dabrowski and Stefani had a nervy start to the second. The Wuhan champions managed to save three break points in the opening game but were broken from 15-40 in their following two service games as Guo and Mladenovic had the chance to serve to force a match tiebreaker at 5-2. The Chinese-French team couldn’t close out the second with their two set points, but had two more at 5-4, 40-30, and were this time able to convert on deciding point.
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In the match tiebreaker, both sides went into the first changeover tied at 3-3, but Dabrowski and Stefani took over after that, winning six of seven points to hold several match points at 9-4. On their second match point, Mladenovic’s forehand sailed long as the top seeds remained perfect at this year’s WTA Finals.
Dabrowski and Stefani’s final round-robin contest will be against Su-Wei Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko on Friday. The Canadian-Brazilian duo will clinch top spot in Group 1 if Hsieh and Ostapenko lose later on Wednesday.
Feature Photo: Jimmie48 Tennis Photography
