On Saturday, Canadians achieved a commendable 1-for-2 at the Strasbourg Open finals.
While Gabriela Dabrowski and her Brazilian teammate Luisa Stefani celebrated a victory in the doubles competition, Victoria Mboko narrowly missed out on an all-Canadian triumph.
Mboko faced a challenging match in the women’s singles final, falling to American Emma Navarro with scores of 0-6, 7-5, 2-6.
The top-seeded Canadian aimed for her third WTA title, her first since triumphing at the Hong Kong Open last November. She also claimed victory at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers the previous August.
Despite out-acing Navarro 4-0, Mboko struggled with her serve, winning only 49% of her first serve points and allowing a staggering 21 break-point opportunities, seven of which Navarro capitalized on.
The Strasbourg event served as the final WTA Tour stop and a vital clay-court warm-up leading into the French Open, starting Sunday. Eager to bounce back, Mboko, seeded ninth, is set to face Czechia’s Nikola Bartunkova in her opening match on Monday.
In the doubles final, top seeds Dabrowski and Stefani secured their championship title with a decisive 7-5, 6-4 win over American Quinn Gleason and Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri.
Dabrowski and Stefani dominated the match with a solid 66% success rate on their first serves and converted 5 out of 7 break-point opportunities, sealing their victory.
“As the tournament draws to a close, it’s always more challenging to stay mentally fresh, so managing some fatigue was key for me,” Dabrowski shared in a Tennis Canada release. “As Luisa pointed out, this is just our second clay-court event, which may have impacted our match fitness compared to earlier in the season. Throughout this week, we made great strides both on and off the court, which was crucial in helping us clinch the title.”
The 34-year-old Ottawa native Dabrowski is poised to rise to No. 4 in the women’s doubles rankings. She and Stefani are currently awaiting their draw for the French Open.
With this latest win, Dabrowski has now amassed a total of 22 WTA titles, including four alongside Stefani.
