U.S. Open title defence over for Canada's Dabrowski, partner Routliffe
CBC
The U.S. Open title defence of Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand's Erin Routliffe has come to an end.
The duo was handed a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 defeat by Russia's Veronika Kudermetova and Taiwan's Hao-ching Chan in women's doubles quarterfinal action on Tuesday. The match took two hours 23 minutes to play.
Tied 5-5 in the second set, Ottawa's Dabrowski and Routliffe surrendered the final two games for their opponents to draw even.
In the third, Dabrowski and Routliffe went up 3-1 before losing five straight games to end up falling out of the Grand Slam tournament.
Dabrowski and Routliffe committed eight double faults without a single ace recorded, and broke on just five of their 17 opportunities.
They were the top-seeded women's doubles team at the U.S. Open.
Meanwhile, Emma Navarro rode a stunning turnaround right into her first Grand Slam semifinal, beating Paula Badosa 6-2, 7-5 to follow up her upset of defending champion Coco Gauff.
Taylor Fritz then earned his first berth in the final four of a major, beating 2020 U.S. Open runner-up Alexander Zverev 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3).
Fritz had been 0-4 in Grand Slam quarterfinals but finally broke through against Zverev, the No. 4 seed he also defeated in the fourth round at Wimbledon.
Frances Tiafoe could give the U.S. a third semifinalist Tuesday — and a guaranteed chance to play for a championship — when he faced No. 9 Grigor Dimitrov at night. If he wins, the No. 20-seeded Tiafoe would play the 12th-seeded Fritz in Friday's semis.
"That could be crazy, so I guess we'll see what happens," Fritz said, "but either way I'll be ready to go."
He controlled the action behind his strong serving, winning 20 of 21 points on his first serve in the fourth set and 81 per cent in the match.
On the women's side, Navarro was trailing 5-1 in the second set and was three points from having to go to a deciding third she she won the next four points to stay alive, starting a stretch in which she captured 24 of the final 28 points of the match.
"I think things weren't looking great there in the second set, but just tried to be really tough, stick in there, make her hit one more ball," Navarro said. "I felt like if I could scrap out a few longer points, maybe put some pressure on her, I felt like I could come back and maybe close it out in two sets.
