Ottawa’s Dabrowski gets to third round of U.S. Open
For Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski, this has been a U.S. Open worth remembering.
Paired with Poland’s Alicja Rosolska, Dabrowski made it into the third round of women’s doubles in New York City (her best result at a major ever) before bowing out Monday in straight sets to the eighth seeded pair, Jie Zheng of China and Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-3.
Dabrowski and Rosolska started the Open by knocking off the 10th seeded pair of Ashley Barty and Casey Dellacqua from Australia in straight sets 6-2, 6-3.
In the second round of play, they faced Japan’s Misaki Doi and Russia’s Elina Svitolina. This was a tougher match but Dabrowski and Rosolska prevailed, winning in three sets, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
The 22-year-old from Gloucester is ranked 69th in the world in doubles and 207th in singles. She is trained by her father Yurek.
In the hot, steamy weather in New York, Dabrowski said the pair “had many opportunities today that we didn’t capitalize on. I didn’t follow my instincts sometimes and then became too passive at certain points also. Both of us made some untimely errors and that’s all it takes to lose.”
This season she reached the final of a tournament in Vero Beach, Florida, where she was defeated by Laura Siegemund. At the French Open in May, she made it to the second round of the doubles event with Rosolska, who is 28. She lost in the first round at Wimbledon.
In July at the Swedish Open, Dabrowski qualified for her first WTA main draw and upset World No. 39 Camila Giorgi in the opening round, her first Top 50 win. She was eliminated in three sets by Mona Barthel in the next round. At the beginning of August at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C., Dabrowski won the first WTA doubles title of her career. She defeated, with partner Shuko Aoyama, Hiroko Kuwata and Kurumi Nara in straight sets in the final.
She first hooked up with Rosolska last year in October at a WTA event in Linz, Austria.
“We made the finals of that tournament. We knew each other from the tour and decided to give playing together a go. I then played with her this year from about May until July, and then here at the U.S. Open.”
For Dabrowski the key to a good doubles partnership is communication. “Even if you don’t know your partner that well, having good communication allows you to create strategic plays that work to each other’s strengths as well as exploit opponent’s perceived weaknesses.”
Dabrowski says she prefers doubles "because I think I am better at it than singles and I enjoy working with someone to achieve an overall goal. I also like to be at the net and doubles gives me that opportunity better than singles does. That said, I still believe I will play both singles and doubles as long as I can.
This year she has been concentrating more on doubles play because she had a steady partner with a good ranking (which is hard to find, she says) and wanted to make the most of that.
She also knew she could make more money playing doubles as well.
Dabrowski has played at the U.S. Open before in singles and as a junior. This year was her first at the French Open and Wimbledon. In all, Dabrowski has played in about 25 tournaments so far this season.
"Tennis is demanding but if I am healthy I will keep playing for a long time. These days there are players in their late 20s and early 30s winning Grand Slams. I will quit when I feel I can no longer keep up with the high level of competitors.
"Tennis was my idea when I was young and because of that I put my parents in financial trouble. They spent all theirs savings and cashed their RRSPs and also remortgaged their house to help me keep my dreams alive. I am hoping that soon I will be able to make enough to hire an experienced tour coach or at least a great hitting partner.”
She lives out of a suitcase most of the time and only gets home for a few weeks each year as evidenced by her upcoming schedule.
“My partner is going to Asia next week I believe for a few weeks and I will be going to Quebec City and then to the States for some ITF tournaments. That said, we probably won’t play together for a few months at least.”