Chan/Kudermetova save match points, clinch last spot in Riyadh doubles semis

No.7 seeds Chan Hao-ching and Veronika Kudermetova saved two match points in a gripping comeback win at the WTA Finals Riyadh presented by PIF on Thursday, clinching the last doubles semifinal spot in the process.

Chan and Kudermetova outlasted the No.4 seeds, Olympic champions Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini 3-6, 7-6(3), [11-9] in the nighttime clash. With the down-to-the-wire victory, Chan and Kudermetova finish in second place in the White Group and move into the final four.

WTA Finals Riyadh: Scores | Schedule | Standings

"We’re really happy to win this match and to be in the semis," Kudermetova said in their on-court interview. "It was a lot of ups and downs, a lot of stress, but we’re here."

Errani and Paolini held a pair of match points on Paolini's serve at 6-3, 5-4, and Paolini had not dropped serve all day prior to that game. However, Chan and Kudermetova fended the match points off, breaking Paolini to give themselves a lifeline.

Errani then served for the match one more time at 6-5, but the 37-year-old veteran was broken at love, and the teams moved into a second-set tiebreak. Chan and Kudermetova prevailed in that standard-length breaker to line up the decisive 10-point match-tiebreak.

In a back-and-forth match-tiebreak, Errani and Paolini saved three consecutive match points, moving from 9-6 to 9-9. But a winning Chan volley gave her squad a fourth match point, and Kudermetova converted that chance with a volley winner after 1 hour and 46 minutes of play.

"We just tried to play more aggressive after losing the first set," Chan said afterwards. "We moved more, we talked [about] how we play more, and that’s how we win."

Kudermetova is still in the hunt to claim her second WTA Finals doubles title. She hoisted the Martina Navratilova Trophy in 2022 alongside Elise Mertens.

Chan is returning to the WTA Finals for the first time since 2019; all three of her prior appearances came alongside her older sister Latisha. This year, Chan matches her previous career-best run at the WTA Finals, when she and her sister made the 2015 semifinals.

In Friday's semifinals, Chan and Kudermetova will face Green Group winners Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, the reigning Wimbledon champions.

Dabrowski/Routliffe stay unbeaten: Already assured of topping the White Group and advancing to the semifinals, No.2 seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe came from a set and a break down to defeat No.5 seeds Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk 4-6, 6-3, [10-6] in 1 hour and 33 minutes earlier on Thursday.

For the second straight year, Dabrowski and Routliffe finish the group stage of the competition with a perfect 3-0 record. They improve to 2-1 overall against Dolehide and Krawczyk following a victory in the Wimbledon semifinals and a loss in the Toronto final this year.

By contrast, Dolehide and Krawczyk end their first WTA Finals with a 0-3 record, having lost all three of their matches in super-tiebreaks after winning the first set. The American duo had already been eliminated from advancement after narrowly losing their first two matches.

"The key was just chipping away, trying to problem-solve," said Dabrowski afterwards. "It was not easy -- they brought a great level. Because we already knew we were into the next round but still really wanted to win this one, it's a dynamic we don't have often, but I love that about the round-robin format. It was a match where we could express ourselves and improve parts of our game."

A pair of clean return winners on the Dabrowski serve enabled Dolehide and Krawczyk to break the Canadian in the final game of the first set. But at 2-0 in the second, Krawczyk double faulted down break point, and from there the 2023 US Open champions gradually took control. Dabrowski's proficiency at net proved crucial, and she delivered a series of winners at net in the super-tiebreak.

Dabrowski and Routliffe will meet No.6 seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez in a rematch of last year's semifinals. Melichar-Martinez and Perez won their WTA Finals meeting last year in Cancun.