Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski┬аmade more Canadian tennis history on Saturday.
Dabrowski and doubles partner Erin Routliffe of New Zealand secured the┬аWTA Finals title in┬аRiyadh, Saudi Arabia after defeating Czech Katerina Siniakova and American Taylor Townsend 7-5, 6-3.
The 32-year-old Dabrowski became the first Canadian to win a title at the WTA Finals, which are reserved for the top eight doubles teams and top eight singles players in the world.
She and Routliffe have already earned a combined $605,000 US┬атАФ $170K for participating, $70K for each of their three group-stage wins and $255K for their semifinal victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez. They now add another $520,000 for winning the final, amounting to a total of $1.125 million.
When Dabrowski and Routliffe won the U.S. Open in 2023, they got $700,000.
Dabrowski’s list of accomplishments includes the mixed doubles bronze medal in the Paris 2024 Olympics alongside┬аFelix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal┬аand the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup team tournament with Canada.
She has won three of the four majors after conquering the French Open mixed doubles title in 2017, the┬аAustralian Open in mixed doubles honour in 2018 and the┬аaforementioned U.S. Open women’s doubles┬аtitle last year.
Gauff upsets Sabalenka in singles semifinal
Coco Gauff defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (4), 6-3 Friday and set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals.
Gauff generated six break points to Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set.
Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 7-5 to book her place in Saturday’s final.
Zheng continued her remarkable season by reaching the decider in her first appearance. The Chinese player has won 31 of her 36 matches since Wimbledon, more than anyone else on the tour.
Zheng struck nine aces as she defeated a tired-looking Krejcikova in 1 hour, 40 minutes.