Gabriela Dabrowski’s French Open run ended Friday with an emphatic defeat in the women’s doubles semifinals.

The No. 1 team in the world, Czechia’s Katerina Siniakova and American Taylor Townsend, trounced Dabrowski and Brazilian partner Luisa Stefani 6-0, 6-1.

But as she leaves Paris and heads to the grass-court season, the Canadian will have that semifinal and a mixed doubles final to show for her fortnight’s work.

“I mean, if you would’ve told us in April when we were both injured that we were going to be winning Strasbourg and making semis at the French, I think we’d have taken that all day long,” said the 34-year-old from Ottawa, who will leave with nearly 105,500 euros ($170,000) in prize money between the two events.

“So I’m really proud of us for how hard we worked to get here,”

Both Dabrowski and Stefani missed representing their respective countries in Billie Jean King Cup competition in April.

WATCH | Dabrowski, King fall in final:

Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski falls in French Open mixed doubles final

Reigning Italian mixed doubles champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori defeated Gabriela Dabrowski and her American partner Evan King 4-6, 6-3, 10-4 in the French Open mixed doubles final.

Dabrowski is banged up; a foot injury curtailed her pre-season preparation and had her arriving late to Melbourne for the Australian stretch that opens the season. She also has been managing a knee issue and a plantar fascia tear in her left foot.

Dabrowski and Stefani also had to skip the WTA 1000 event in Madrid. They hadn’t competed since the Miami Open, on hard court in late March, when they lost their opener at the WTA 1000 in Rome last month.

They played a WTA 500 tournament in Strasbourg, France, the week before the French Open and won it.

Between that title and the semifinal effort in Paris, Dabrowski will leap from No. 6 to No. 3 in the WTA individual doubles rankings, right behind Siniakova and Townsend.

It’s a rare match where the Canadian-Brazilian tandem can’t come back from a slow start, or figure out a way to counter a hot opponent.

It didn’t help that Stefani took ill Thursday night and didn’t feel anywhere near her best, at the worst possible time.

“The biggest factor today is that we just got outplayed. I think they played amazing. They served well and they made it really hard for us to dig our teeth in,” Dabrowski said.

“I think we just have some things to improve to raise our level for the coming weeks.”

Townsend and Siniakova, who will play their first French Open final as a duo on Sunday, won 90 per cent of the points on their first serve. Dabrowski and Stefani won just 42 per cent on their own first deliveries and were broken six times in eight opportunities.

“They have to have a bad day; it’s hard to beat them when they’re playing at that level,” Dabrowski said.

“You obviously have to try to make them have a bad day and make them question themselves, but today we weren’t able to do that. So hopefully we get to play them again, which would be great, and we can find ways to do that.”

That the match time hit exactly one hour was only because of Stefani’s comfort break after the first set.

“I think today’s just a really good lesson and hopefully, you know, the bodies are feeling better soon and we can implement some of those things for Wimbledon. But overall it’s definitely beyond satisfactory — very great results,” Dabrowski said.

On Thursday, Dabrowski and first-time partner Evan King faced the best mixed doubles team in the world, Italians Andrea Vavassori and Sara Errani, and took them to the match tiebreak before falling.

Dabrowski and King, both born in 1992, knew each other in the juniors.

“We’re not close friends. But of course we’ve been seeing each other on the various circuits — every circuit — during our careers,” she said.

Dabrowski’s coach Dan Kiernan also coaches men’s doubles specialist Andre Goransson of Sweden — who is a close friend of King’s.

Zverev within a win of elusive Grand Slam title

Jannik Sinner lost early. Carlos Alcaraz withdrew due to injury.

The pressure has been on Alexander Zverev to finally win an elusive Grand Slam title and now the second-seeded German is only one victory away from raising the French Open trophy.

Zverev reached the fourth major final of his career after beating 20-year-old Czech Jakub Mensik 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the Roland Garros semifinals.

In Sunday’s final, Zverev will face 14th-ranked Flavio Cobolli.

Cobolli advanced when 104th-ranked Matteo Arnaldi withdrew before their all-Italian semifinal due to a virus.

Arnaldi spent 19 hours, 42 minutes on court to reach the semifinal — more than anyone at a Grand Slam since 1991. He said he was vomiting overnight.

“I tried to get ready … but every time I get up I feel dizzy,” Arnaldi said. “I can’t move and I can’t eat and I can’t drink. So there was really no way that I will be able to play.”

Zverev has been an overwhelming favorite for the title ever since the top-ranked Sinner struggled in the first week’s heat wave and wasted a two set and 5-1 lead against Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the second round.

Alcaraz, the two-time reigning champion, withdrew before the tournament with an injured right wrist.

The 27th-ranked Mensik, who was playing in his first Grand Slam semifinal, struggled with double faults.

It will be Zverev’s second French Open final, having wasted a lead of two sets to one against Alcaraz in the 2024 championship match.

Zverev had an even bigger advantage — two sets to none — in the 2020 U.S. Open final and lost that one, too, to Dominic Thiem. He was also beaten in straight sets by Sinner in the 2025 Australian Open final.