No.7 seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe moved into the semifinals of the GNP Seguros WTA Finals Cancun with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over No.6 seeds Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva on a windy Wednesday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe's second consecutive straight-sets win in the Mahahual Group is enough to advance into this weekend's single-elimination semifinals. Dabrowski and Routliffe had already defeated No.1 seeds Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula in group play earlier in the week.
WTA Finals: Scores | Draws | Order of play
In Wednesday's rematch of this year's US Open final, Dabrowski and Routliffe repeated their New York City win over Siegemund and Zvonareva, again in two sets. Dabrowski and Routliffe collected the win this time in 1 hour and 28 minutes.
Siegemund and Zvonareva are still alive in the Mahahual Group with a 1-1 record. Siegemund and Zvonareva defeated No.4 seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova on Tuesday.
Read more: Passion, dedication drive 39-year-old Zvonareva back to the WTA Finals
In Wednesday’s first set, a sturdy Routliffe return forced a long Zvonareva volley to give the reigning US Open champions a break lead at 4-3. Serving for the set at 5-4, Dabrowski saved two break points before capturing the opening frame.
Dabrowski and Routliffe took a commanding 5-2 lead in the second set after Dabrowski punched a volley winner to break Siegemund at love. Serving for the match, Dabrowski saw her first three match points disappear as she was pushed from 40-0 to deciding point, but she and Routliffe prevailed in an engrossing all-court rally to seal the win.
Later on Wednesday, No.2 seeds Storm Hunter and Elise Mertens completed a 7-5, 6-4 victory over No.8 seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez in group play.
Hunter and Mertens now have a commanding 2-0 record in the Maya Ka'an Group after finishing off the two-day affair. This match was suspended overnight due to rain with Hunter and Mertens leading 7-5, 2-0.
This was Melichar-Martinez and Perez's first match of the week after their Monday night match was also washed out due to rain. They currently stand at 0-1 in the Maya Ka'an Group.
Serving for the first set at 6-5 on Tuesday night, Hunter had to stare down a deciding point, which would have either wrapped up the set or sent it into a tiebreak. Hunter held firm to take the one-set lead after 47 minutes.
Returning to action on Wednesday, Melichar-Martinez and Perez pulled back on serve by breaking the Hunter serve for 4-4. However, Perez fired a forehand long to drop serve in the very next game, and Mertens closed out the win with an ace on her team's first match point.
