ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA -- Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski fell to a familiar foe in her quest for a 10th career WTA doubles title.
The 27 year old from Ottawa, alongside Croatia's Darija Jurak, lost to her former playing partner Yifan Xu and Nicole Melichar 2-6, 7-5 1/810-5 3/8 in the final of the Adelaide International on Friday.
Dabrowski and Jurak appeared poised to close it out, up 5-3 in the second set. However, Xu and Melichar managed to save two match points en route to winning four straight games to force a super tiebreaker -- that they would win to secure the title.
Just a few months back, Dabrowski and Xu concluded a three-year partnership after playing in their second career WTA Finals.
In their first tournament as partners in 2017, the Canadian-Chinese pair won the Miami Open -- one of five career doubles titles they accrued as a team.
Dabrowski also reached her first Grand Slam final in women's doubles at last year's Wimbledon playing alongside Xu.
Despite failing to win the title at the All-England Club, Dabrowski still became the first Canadian to play in a Grand Slam women's doubles final since Jill Hetherington did it over 30 years ago (lost in 1989 Australian Open final).
The Ottawa-native is expected to play doubles with Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko at the upcoming Australian Open. Dabrowski and Ostapenko won the Qatar Open in February 2018 in their fourth tournament as a pairing. Ostapenko was a late substitute for Xu, who was nursing a back injury at the time.
Dabrowski will also play mixed doubles in Melbourne with Croatian Mate Pavic. The pair has played plenty of Grand Slams together -- including a championship run during the 2018 Australian Open.
--- This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 16, 2020.
