Routliffe, Dabrowski begin WTA Finals campaign with a win

Erin Routliffe and Gaby Dabrowski have got off to a winning start defending their WTA Finals title in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

In their opening group match on Sunday they defeated the Russian duo of Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider 6-3 7-6(2).

Routliffe and Dabrowski, who are the No 3 seeds, were able to break their opponents’ serve twice in the opening set. 

The two teams had a break each in the second set, but once it got to the tiebreak, the defending champions went out to a big lead which they never looked like relinquishing.

This victory means, it’s likely Routliffe and Dabrowski need to win just one of their remaining two matches in the Liezel Huber Group to advance to the semifinals.

Those matches are against Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, who are the tournament’s second seeds, and the seventh seeded duo of Timea Babos and Luisa Stefani.