Monday Digest: Dabrowski and Routliffe Qualify for WTA Finals – Tennis Canada

Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe are heading back to the WTA Finals. 

On Monday, the WTA announced that the Canadian-Kiwi duo were among three teams to clinch their spot in Riyadh. They are currently fourth in the 2024 race having reached five finals this season, including two WTA 1000s and Wimbledon, with one title in Nottingham. 

It will be Dabrowski’s sixth appearance at the WTA Finals and third in a row. She and Routliffe competed at the year-end championships together last year, winning their group with a perfect 3-0 record but lost in the semifinals.  

The WTA Finals will take place at the beginning of November, but in the meantime, there is still plenty of tennis to be played, including another WTA 1000 event this week in Asia. 

Here’s what you need to know. 

In Case You Missed It: Short Week at 1000s 

Ironically, the news of Dabrowski and Routliffe’s qualification for Riyadh comes after a disappointing result for the pair at the WTA 1000 event in Beijing, where they were upset in the second round by Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls. 

Leylah Annie Fernandez also lost in the second round of the Beijing doubles. She and partner Aldila Sutjiadi lost to the eventual champions Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini. Fernandez had been eliminated from singles a week prior. 

The ATP’s Asian 1000 event, the Shanghai Rolex Masters, got underway last week although the tournament is already over for the Canadians. 

Denis Shapovalov managed to notch a win, his 200^th on the ATP Tour, by defeating Lorenzo Sonego in the first round. He fell in his next match to 14^th seed Ben Shelton. 

He had come through qualifying to get into the main draw, as had Gabriel Diallo who lost in the first round to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. 

Félix Auger-Aliassime lost his opening match to France’s Alexandre Muller in straight sets. 

What to Watch: Fernandez Already Off and Running in Wuhan 

The second of the two Asian WTA 1000 events in China, the Wuhan Open, is already underway and Leylah Annie Fernandez made some noise on the first day of main draw play. She upset 12^th seed Diana Shnaider in three sets to cause the first upset of the tournament. 

In the second round, the Lavaloise will face either Beijing runner-up Karolina Muchova or Moyuka Uchijima, with No. 5 seed Qinwen Zheng likely waiting in round three. No. 3 Jasmine Paolini is Fernandez’s projected quarter-final opponent and the Canadian is in the bottom half of the draw with second seed Jessica Pegula. 

Marina Stakusic lost in the first round of qualifying. 

Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe are the top seeds in the women’s doubles and will face either the all-Chinese team of Yafan Wang and Yifan Xu or the Polish-Romanian team of Magdalena Frech and Viktoriya Tomova in the second round after a bye. The top seeds are projected to face the Beijing champions, Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini, in the semifinals. 

Read also: Sprint to the Finish Line on the WTA Tour

Fernandez is also playing doubles alongside Aldila Sutjiadi. They open against Beatriz Haddad Maia and Laura Siegemund. 

With Shanghai carrying over into this week as the only event on the ATP calendar, there are no Canadian men in main-tour action. 

Under the Radar: ITF Returns to Canada 

It was a quieter week for Canada on the lower tours. The closest any Canadian pro came to reaching a final was at the W75 event in Rancho Santa Fe where Katherine Sebov reached the semifinals. Rebecca Marino reached the quarters at the same event. 

There was a Canadian victory on the ITF junior circuit, as Judah McEachern-Brown won the boys singles and doubles titles at the J30 event in Managua, Nicaragua.  

The 16-year-old did not drop a set on his way to the singles title, his first ITF junior win, and upset the top seed in the quarter-finals. In doubles, he and American Juan Carlos Portilla Morales beat another Canadian, Hubert Poirier and his Costa Rican partner Juan Diego Chacon Quesada, for the title. 

Read also: Masters Update – Over 70s Bring Home the Hardware

Canada plays host to the ITF circuit this week with a joint event in Edmonton, a W35 for the women and M25 for the men. There is a heavy Canadian presence in both draws. As well, there is an ITF wheelchair event taking place in Fredericton. 

You can follow the Canadians in action every week here.