Gabriela Dabrowski hailing from Ottawa, alongside her Brazilian partner Luisa Stefani, kicked off the WTA Finals doubles tournament at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Monday with an impressive victory over the Belgian Elise Mertens and China’s Zhang Shuai, triumphing in straight sets.
The dynamic duo clinched the match in a swift one hour and 36 minutes, finishing with a score of 6-3, 7-6 (5).
As the top seeds in Group 1’s competitive four-team round-robin, Dabrowski and Stefani are set to face off against teams led by Kristina Mladenovic from France and Hanyu Guo from China, as well as Su-Wei Hsieh of Taiwan paired with Jelena Ostapenko from Latvia.
In their opening match, Dabrowski and Stefani showcased strong performance metrics, tallying three aces, seven remarkable winners, five double faults, and 14 unforced errors. They dominated the service games, winning nine out of 11, while securing three out of 10 return games.
On the opposing side, Mertens and Shuai recorded three aces, nine winners, two double faults, and committed 12 unforced errors. They successfully won seven of their 10 service games but faced challenges, managing only two out of 11 return games.
