Dabrowski/Routliffe, Errani/Paolini open WTA Finals campaigns with victories

After two upsets by seeding in Saturday's doubles matches at the WTA Finals Riyadh presented by PIF, Sunday's doubles tilts went to form.

No.2 seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe got their Riyadh campaign off to a winning start by defeating No.7 seeds Chan Hao-Ching and Veronika Kudermetova 7-6(6), 6-4 after saving one set point in the first-set tiebreak in the opening White Group contest.

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Dabrowski and Routliffe, the 2023 semifinalists, levelled the head-to-head between the teams at one win apiece, having fallen to Chan and Kudermetova 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the US Open quarterfinals from a set and a break up. Afterwards, Dabrowski said that she had not thought of the rematch in terms of revenge.

"I feel like sometimes, that can bring almost a tension to the match," she explained. "I actually felt pretty relaxed most of the time [...] That was a tough loss at the US Open, and because it was a tough loss, we learned a lot from it. Sometimes those tough losses allow you to improve next time you have the opportunity, and today, that was our opportunity."

Dabrowski was broken in the opening game of the match thanks to a canny lob-smash combination by Kudermetova, and trailed 4-2 in the first set. But their instincts for swarming the net came to the fore as they broke Chan back in the seventh game.

Though the Chinese Taipei player saved two set points down 6-5 with booming serves to force a tiebreak, Dabrowski and Routliffe continued to be the more solid players in the forecourt. Dabrowski saved a set point with an emphatic smash, and they converted their third as a Chan forehand sailed long.

Dabrowski and Routliffe also had to bounce back from an unfortunate tumble for Routliffe during their set-point save. Back-pedalling to allow Dabrowski room, she ended up flat on her back and required a medical timeout between sets.

"I think I tripped over my own two left feet," Routliffe joked afterwards. "Thankfully Gaby hit an amazing overhead!"

Dabrowski and Routliffe pulled away in the second set, winning four of six deciding points. Having broken Kudermetova to take a 3-2 lead, Dabrowski double-faulted the break away in the following game -- but came up with another excellent smash to break Chan again for 4-3, a lead that proved decisive.

In Sunday's late match, reigning Olympic champions Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini fought from behind to collect their first doubles win of the event. No.4 seeds Errani and Paolini topped No.5 seeds Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk 1-6, 6-1, [10-4].

After getting routed in the opening set, the all-Italian pairing of Errani and Paolini completely turned things around to best the American duo of Dolehide and Krawczyk in 61 minutes.

The match was similar to their Olympic final, where Errani and Paolini were overwhelmed by Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider in the opening set, then completely regrouped and captured the gold medal for Italy.

On Sunday, Dolehide and Krawczyk reeled off seven games in a row to lead 6-1, 1-0, but after Errani and Paolini got their first break of the day two games later, they became the dominant pairing.

Four consecutive volley winners by the Italian duo gave them a commanding 8-2 lead in the decisive match-tiebreak. They needed only one match point to close out victory and join Dabrowski and Routliffe as White Group winners.

"It was tough today," said Paolini, who is also currently 1-0 in the Riyadh singles field. "The first set was so fast, and we tried to stay more positive, more aggressive, because here the rallies are really short, especially in doubles."