Monday Digest: Dabrowski Looks for Improvement in Dubai

After some notable results last week from the Canadian singles players, doubles is in the spotlight this week as Gabriela Dabrowski leads the charge at the WTA 1000 event in Dubai. 

Apart from the doubles star, it is a fairly quiet week for Canada on the main tours. 

Here’s what you need to know. 

In Case You Missed It: Fernandez Shows Flashes 

For a minute last week in Doha, Leylah Annie Fernandez was giving off some 2021 US Open vibes. 

The Canadian No. 1 reached the quarter-finals at the first WTA 1000 event of the year, the Qatar TotalEnergies Open, taking down two seeds and a former world No. 2 in impressive fashion before running into the eventual runner-up Elena Rybakina in the final eight. 

Fernandez started out with a win over No. 12 seed Liudmila Samsonova, followed it up by scoring her first win over Paula Badosa, and then shocked recent Australian Open runner-up Qinwen Zheng to reach her second WTA 1000 quarter-final. She even had an early lead before Rybakina turned around the quarter-final clash. 

Doubles was a bit disappointing in Doha, as both Fernandez (via withdrawal) and Gabriela Dabrowski went out in the second round. 

Dabrowski and partner Erin Routliffe were the second seeds but were upset in their opening match by Ekaterina Alexandrova and Irina Khromacheva.  

Over in Rotterdam, Milos Raonic was the last of the three Canadians standing, although the tournament did not end the way he wanted it to. 

Read also: Everything You Need to Know About Paris 2024

After two impressive victories in which he did not drop serve, the powerful Canadian gave eventual champion Jannik Sinner everything he could handle in the opening set of their quarter-final clash, even having two set points, but his body failed him and Raonic was forced to retire early in the second set. 

It was his deepest run at a tournament since reaching the Paris Masters semifinals in late 2020. 

Denis Shapovalov got into the main draw in Rotterdam as a qualifier, but had no luck being drawn against Gael Monfils in round one, who bested the Canadian in two tiebreaks. 

Félix Auger-Aliassime won his opener against Maxime Cressy and then had match points to knock off second seed Andrey Rublev, but could not convert and ultimately lost the thriller 7-5 in the third set. 

What to Watch: Dabrowski Aims to Bounce Back 

Gabriela Dabrowski is the lone Canadian still in a draw on the main tours this week. She and Erin Routliffe are the second seeds in Dubai, the second of the of the back-to-back WTA 1000s in February. 

After a first-round bye, Dabrowski and Routliffe will open their campaign against Anna Danilina and Shuai Zhang. 

If they are victorious, they will have a chance at revenge for their Australian Open semifinal loss against Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko. Their projected semifinal opponents are fourth seeds Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova. 

Leylah Annie Fernandez was also competing in Dubai, but was eliminated in round two of the singles on Tuesday morning by Jasmine Paolini, having beaten Bernarda Pera in the first round. Fernandez also lost in the first round of the doubles.  

Under the Radar: Queen Kwong 

Louise Kwong is a winner on the ITF circuit for the third consecutive year after she and partner Anna Ulyashchenko claimed the W15 title in Manacor, Spain. Kwon has won five titles since 2022, all with Ulyashchenko. 

The pair did not drop a set on their way to the title, capping it off with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Patricja Paukstyte and Laia Petretic.  

Carson Branstine nearly won her second title of 2024 on the ITF tour, but was forced to retire in the second set of the W35 Antalya final against Cristina Dinu. 

Rebecca Marino came close to grabbing a second title in as many weeks as she reached the semifinals of the W50 event in Morelia, Mexico, but she fell in the final four to top seed Hailey Baptiste.  

Marino has her eyes on a bigger prize this week as she is competing at the WTA 125 event in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. 

You can follow the Canadians in action every week here.