Canadian wins French Open mixed doubles
Gabriela Dabrowski etched her name into the history books at the French Open on Thursday.
The Ottawa native became the first Canadian woman to capture a Grand Slam title as she and Indian partner Rohan Bopanna rallied to beat Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Robert Farah of Colombia 2-6, 6-2, 12-10 in the mixed doubles final.
“It feels very special,” she said of the feat. “It’s something that you always dream about as a kid. It’s kind of funny, because you never know where the journey is going to take you, singles, doubles, now mixed doubles. I couldn’t be more happy.“
The last Canadian woman to reach the mixed doubles final in Paris was Jill Hetherington of Peterborough, Ont., in 1995. She and South African partner John Lafnnie de Jager lost to Ukrainian Larisa Savchenko Neiland and Todd Woodbridge of Australia.
She joins decorated doubles veteran Daniel Nestor, Sebastien Lareau and Vasek Pospisil as the only Canadians to win a Grand Slam title.
The 25-year-old Ottawa native is having the best year of her professional career, rising to the top 20 in the WTA’s women’s doubles rankings after capturing the title in Miami with China’s Xu Yifan.
It’s the third Grand Slam tournament for the DabrowskiBopanna tandem after the 2016 U.S. Open and the Australian Open earlier this year.
In Paris, the No. 7 seeds upset No. 3 pair Andrea Hlavackova and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in Wednesday’s semifinal and the second-ranked pair of Sania Mirza and Ivan Dodig in the quarter-finals. They hadn’t dropped a set until Thursday’s final.
“I think that’s what makes a difference is when you play with partners regularly at Slams, you get to understand each other,” said Bopanna. “I think that helped us also today coming through those close matches. You end up trusting your partner. You know what the strength of your partner is, as well.”
They faced two match points when trailing 9-7 in the tiebreaker.
“I think Gaby came out with a great return on, I think, 9-8 when Robert served. She trusted her instinct and hit a great backhand,” Bopanna said. “I think that’s what made these matches more special.”
Groenefeld, who was looking for another mixed doubles title at the clay-court major after winning in 2014 alongside Jean-Julien Rojer, double-faulted on match point to hand Bopanna and Dabrowski the victory.