Ottawa’s Dabrowski and partner Stefani drop Western & Southern Open doubles final

CINCINNATI — Another deep run for Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski and partner Luisa Stefani of Brazil ended Saturday with defeat in the doubles final at the Western & Southern Open.

Ottawa’s Dabrowski and Stefani lost in straight sets 7-5, 6-3 to Samantha Stosur of Australia and China’s Shuai Zhang in one hour 23 minutes in Cincinnati.

It was the third consecutive final appearance for the Canadian and Brazilian duo, who were coming off a doubles victory last week at the National Bank Open in Montreal.

The week before that, Dabrowski, 29, and Stefani, 24, lost in the final of the Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose.

The pair had only dropped two sets at the Western & Southern Open heading into the final. One of those came in a hard-fought semifinal victory over Czech tandem Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova.

It was a dream start for Dabrowski and Stefani in the final. They won the first four games to break Stosur and Zhang before going up 2-0 in the first set.

But the pair from Australia and China broke their opponents back and did it again in the decisive 12th game to take a one-set advantage. 

Dabrowski and Stefani were broken twice more early in the second set to go down 4-1. Losing 5-2, they fought off match point to stay alive but that only delayed Stosur and Zhang’s victory.

Stosur sealed the title with an ace on championship point as Zhang threw her arms up in celebration.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 21, 2021.

The Canadian Press