Dabrowski, Routliffe advance to women’s doubles quarterfinals in Dubai

DUBAI CITY, United Arab Emirates — The second-seeded team of Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe advanced to the women’s doubles quarterfinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships with a 5-7, 6-2, 10-6 second-round win over China’s Zhang Shuai and Kazakhstan’s Anna Danilina on Wednesday.

After losing a close first set, Dabrowski and Routliffe responded with a dominant second set. They saved the only break point they faced while breaking their opponents twice on six chances.

They then won 100 per cent of first-serve points, including their lone ace of the match, to take the third set.

Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face the sixth-seeded duo of Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 tournament.