Dabrowski, Routliffe advance to women's doubles quarterfinals in Dubai
Ottawa native Dabrowski, partner will next face No. 6 duo Kichenok, Ostapenko
The second-seeded team of Ottawa's Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand's Erin Routliffe advanced to the women's doubles quarterfinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships with a 5-7, 6-2, 10-6 second-round win over China's Zhang Shuai and Kazakhstan's Anna Danilina on Wednesday.
After losing a close first set, Dabrowski and Routliffe responded with a dominant second set. They saved the only break point they faced while breaking their opponents twice on six chances.
They then won 100 per cent of first-serve points, including their lone ace of the match, to take the third set.
It's a rematch from this year's Australian Open semifinals, which Kichenok and Ostapenko won 7-5, 7-5.
Wednesday's win was a bounce back for Dabrowski and Routliffe, who were upset in the second round of the Qatar Open last week by Ekaterina Alexandrova and Irina Khromacheva of Russia.
Gauff beats Pliskova
Coco Gauff rallied from a slow start and a second-set argument with the chair umpire to beat Karolina Pliskova 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 and reach the quarterfinals of the Dubai Championships on Wednesday.
The third-seeded Gauff ended Pliskova's 11-match winning streak.
The 19-year-old American built a 4-2 lead in the second set before a lengthy back-and-forth with chair umpire Pierre Bacchi. Gauff complained to Bacchi that he called her serve at deuce out only after Pliskova returned it into the net.
Gauff had to repeat her first serve and went on to hold for a 5-2 lead.
The U.S. Open champion said the argument "fueled" her.
"It's OK. It's just one point. That happens in tennis. Players make mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes," Gauff said in her on-court interview. "It kind of went upward from there for me."
Resilient Coco ✊<a href="https://twitter.com/CocoGauff?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CocoGauff</a> ends Pliskova’s 11-match winning streak, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DDFTennis?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DDFTennis</a> <a href="https://t.co/2dvEd0qGJL">pic.twitter.com/2dvEd0qGJL</a>
—@WTAGauff will next face Anna Kalinskaya after the Russian beat ninth-seeded Jelena Ostapenko 6-4, 7-5.
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek advanced to the last eight by beating two-time Dubai champion Elina Svitolina 6-1, 6-4.
Fourth-seeded Elena Rybakina had a tougher time reaching the quarterfinals. She outlasted Magdalena Frech 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-4.
Swiatek will next play sixth-seeded Qinwen Zheng, who eliminated Anastasia Potapova 6-3, 6-2. Rybakina has a quarterfinal match against Jasmine Paolini. The Italian defeated eighth-seeded Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-2.
The other quarterfinal match is seventh-seeded Marketa Vondrousova against Sorana Cirstea.
With files from The Associated Press
