Ottawa’s Dabrowski reaches mixed doubles final

PARIS — Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski is off to the French Open mixed-doubles final for the second straight year. Dabrowski and teammate Mate Pavic of Croatia downed Slovakia’s Katarina Srebotnik and Mexico’s Santiago Gonzalez 6-4, 6-4 in Tuesday’s mixed semifinals. Dabrowski and Pavic, the top seeded team, had six aces, compared to one for their opponents. They converted two of four break point opportunities and saved all three break points they faced as they rolled to victory in just over an hour.

Dabrowski teamed with India’s Rohan Bopanna to win last year’s French Open mixed-doubles title. Dabrowski and Pavic won the Australian Open mixed title earlier this year.

The 25-year-old from Sicily was suspended for 18 months and fined 40,000 euros (about US$45,000) by his national federation in July 2016, accused of losing on purpose at a lower-tier Challenger event in Morocco a year earlier. Eventually, the Italian Olympic Committee announced that sanctions were dropped on a technicality.

Cecchinato has never won a tour-level match on a surface other than red clay; as it is, he entered this season with a career record of 4-23.

He arrived at Roland Garros with a 0-4 mark in the majors, and dropped the first two sets in the first round before coming all the way back to win 10-8 in the fifth. Since then, employing a smooth one-handed backhand, he has