Gabriela Dabrowski and partner Erin Routliffe won the WTA 500 Stuttgart Open doubles title on Sunday, beating Ekaterina Alexandrova and Zhang Shuai 6-3, 6-3 in the final.
The victory represented the first team title of the season, and the first together on clay, for Dabrowski and Routliffe following a successful 2024 which they capped by winning the WTA Finals. En route to the final in Stuttgart, the pair defeated Fanny Stollar and Alexandra Panova 6-4, 6-2 in the quarters before overcoming Luisa Stefani and Timea Babos 5-7, 6-3, 10-4 in the semis.
The No. 1-seeded Dabrowski and Routliffe dominated Sunday’s final, taking the game to their opponents and making few errors of their own. They broke Alexandrova and Shuai’s serve three times in the first set, including in the final game, and twice in the second. Overall, they manufactured 12 break point opportunities and won 64 per cent of their own service points.
This was Dabrowski and Routliffe’s fifth title together.
“We are super pleased to have sealed our first title on clay together, especially considering it’s our first tournament on clay as doubles partners,” said Dabrowski. “It was a really fun week and we made the most of everything the tournament had to offer!”
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"It was our first week on clay of our careers, which is cool,” Routliffe said post-match. “We didn't bring a coach here this week, which I don't think we've done in a while. So, we had to lean on each other a lot, which I think made us stronger. We are just so grateful to everyone watching. We know all our coaches are watching, so thank you guys, we really appreciate it."
Dabrowski’s title was the highlight from last week on the pro circuit, although Bianca Andreescu's return to the tour was a bright spot despite her first-round defeat in Rouen. The former US Open champion was competing in her first event of 2025. She lost to Suzan Lamens 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(4).
Félix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov both competed at the ATP 500 event in Munich, but their slow starts to the clay swing continued as both fell in round one. Auger-Aliassime was edged in a third-set tiebreak by Mariano Navone while Shapovalov retired in the second set of his match with Diego Dedura-Palomero.
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What to Watch: All together in Madrid
The first combined 1000 event on clay of the year gets underway this week in Madrid. Four Canadians are in the singles draw.
All four Canadians are looking for their first clay-court match wins of the season, including Bianca Andreescu, who will keep her comeback going this week in the Spanish capital. As the lone unseeded Canadian, she is the only one who has to play a first-round match. Andreescu will meet McCartney Kessler in round one with a win earning her a clash with tenth seed Elena Rybakina.
Leylah Annie Fernandez is the 25th seed and, after her bye, will open against Ann Li or a qualifier. She is projected to meet world No. 4 Coco Gauff in the third round.
Félix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov are both seeded and also have first-round byes. No. 18 Auger-Aliassime will start against either Aleksandar Kovacevic, whom he beat for the Montpellier title in February, or a qualifier. He could face No. 9 seed Daniil Medvedev in the third round. The Montrealer is the defending runner-up in Madrid.
No. 29 Shapovalov will face either Aleksandar Vukic or 2014 Madrid runner-up Kei Nishikori in his opening match, with No. 6 seed Alex de Minaur looming in round three.
Gabriel Diallo was the lone Canadian competing in qualifying but lost in the final round on Tuesday to Borna Coric.
Under the Radar: Draxl and Harper Strike Again
Liam Draxl and Cleeve Harper reunited to start the clay season as it did not take long for the pair to get back in the winner’s circle. Last week, they claimed their fifth ATP Challenger Tour title together and second of 2025 at an event in Tallahassee, Florida.
The Canadian tandem dropped just one set, in the semis, on their way to the title. They defeated Jamie Cerretani and George Goldhoff 6-2, 6-3 in the final.
It was a busy week for Canadian juniors on home soil last week as Montreal played host to the North and Central America and Caribbean qualifying for the ITF World Junior Tennis team events.
Canada was represented in all four divisions (U14 boys and girls, U16 Davis Cup Juniors and Billie Jean King Cup Juniors) and all four teams were successful, qualifying for their respective finals later in the season.
Photo : David Kirouac
Click the links below to read the daily recaps for the qualifying event:
There was also an ITF J100 in Kingston, ON, with Canadian Volodymyr Gurenko winning the boys singles title in an all-Canadian final. Another Canadian, Dani Szabo, picked up the doubles title with Colombian partner Pablo Robledo Hoyos.
You can follow the Canadians in action every week here.
Feature Photo : @PorscheTennis
