In a tough quarterfinal match at the Italian Open, Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and her partner Erin Routliffe from New Zealand were eliminated by the Russian duo of Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider, with a scoreline of 6-2, 4-6, 11-9.
The formidable Russian pair capitalized on 10 break-point opportunities against the top-seeded Dabrowski and Routliffe, successfully converting four of those chances.
While Dabrowski and Routliffe managed to break their opponents three times out of five attempts, they struggled with their service game, winning only 50% of total service points compared to their rivals’ 61.4%.
Andreeva, who previously lost to Coco Gauff in the singles quarterfinals, and Shnaider will next take on the third-seeded Italians, Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani, in this prestigious clay-court WTA 1000 event.
For Dabrowski and Routliffe, the reigning champions of the WTA Finals in doubles, this marks their second defeat in a 1000-series tournament against Andreeva and Shnaider, having also fallen to them in the second round of the Qatar Open earlier this year.
