(Dubai) Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealander Erin Routliffe reached the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles tournament at the Dubai tennis tournament on Wednesday, after defeating China’s Zhang Shuai and Kazakh Anna Danilina 5- 7, 6-2 and 10-6 in the second round.
After losing the first set, the tournament’s second seeds fought back with aplomb in the second set. Dabrowski and Routliffe preserved the only break point offered to their opponents, and they converted two of their six chances.
The duo won 100% of their points with their first serve, including their only ace of the match, to take the third set.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face Ukrainian Lyudmyla Kichenok and Latvian Jelena Ostapenko in the quarter-finals.
It will be a replay of the duel that occurred in the semi-finals of the Australian Open last month, which was won 7-5, 7-5 by Kichenok and Ostapenko.
The victory of Dabrowski and Routliffe is a balm for them, after their defeat against the Russians Ekaterina Alexandrova and Irina Khromacheva in the second round of the tournament in Doha, Qatar, last week.