No. 7 seeds Timea Babos and Luisa Stefani rallied from a set and two breaks down to dethrone defending champions Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe 2-6, 7-5, [10-5] at the WTA Finals in Riyadh, advancing to the semifinals.

WTA Finals: Scores | Draws | Order of play

Babos, a three-time WTA Finals doubles champion, reached the semifinals for the fourth time in her career and first time since 2019. Stefani, making her tournament debut, became the first Brazilian to advance to the last four at the year-end event in any discipline.

The pair, runners-up in the Liezel Huber Group, will face Hsieh Su-Wei and Jelena Ostapenko — the Martina Navratilova Group winners — in Friday’s semifinals.

The win avenged two previous three-set losses this season to Dabrowski and Routliffe, who had beaten Babos and Stefani in the Stuttgart semifinals and US Open quarterfinals. For much of the match, though, a turnaround looked unlikely. Routliffe set the tone early with three sharp forecourt plays to break Babos in the opening game, and the No. 3 seeds maintained their edge by winning the first four deciding points to lead 6-2, 3-2.

“This year we had two very tough matches against Gaby and Erin,” Babos said afterward. “Both times we were leading and then both times we couldn’t close it out, and they ended up winning the tournament. It’s a little bit karma, in a way, but we deserved it.”

With their backs to the wall, Babos and Stefani raised their games as Dabrowski and Routliffe’s intensity dipped. A sequence of four successive breaks followed in which Routliffe’s hitherto emphatic net game lapsed into error while Babos and Stefani began to find winning lobs and returns.

At 5-5, Babos staved off two break points, and the Hungarian-Brazilian duo wrapped up the set after two Routliffe misjudgments: on the final two points of the set, the New Zealander left a Stefani return that landed in, then netted a backhand volley.

Babos won a fine net exchange to capture the super-tiebreak’s first mini-break, and from that point on her team kept their nose in front. A terrific off backhand winner from Babos extended their lead to 8-5, and they converted their first match point as Routliffe netted a smash.

Siniakova and Townsend end group play on high note with third straight win

Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend didn’t need to win their final round-robin match, already assured of finishing atop the Liezel Huber Group regardless of the result against Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider.

They won anyway, defeating the No. 5 seeds 6-2, 6-4 in 64 minutes to finish undefeated in group play, and with plenty of joy along the way.

“I’m chilling every time we play,” Siniakova said after the match. “Taylor, she’s fun, and I’m just enjoying it. And of course, when we are doing great, it’s even better.”

The duo has enjoyed their time on court together while leaving little room for opponents to do the same. Not throughout this season, and certainly not in Riyadh.

Andreeva and Shnaider stayed level through four games before being broken at love, giving the Australian Open champions a 3-2 lead. Siniakova and Townsend dropped just three points the rest of the set.

In the second set, the teams were again tied at 2-2 before Siniakova and Townsend broke for the third time, aided by two double faults on Shnaider’s serve. That proved decisive, as they coasted the rest of the way before closing out the match in straight sets.

The performance leaves them felling confident heading into the WTA Finals semifinals, where they will face Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens, runners-up in the Martina Navratilova Group.

“Everyone is playing really great tennis,” Townsend said. “We’ve gotten three matches under our belt now, and I think everyone’s had a little bit of a test along the way. So, I’m looking forward to the matchup, especially with this type of format. I’m excited. I’m really happy to be one step closer, and I’m just enjoying every moment.

“We’re having fun, and like someone said, we’re keeping the vibes going.”

Siniakova and Townsend defeated Kudermetova and Mertens en route to the US Open final. If they can get past them again, they’ll advance to another final, with the chance to bookend a season that began with an Australian Open title with another at the WTA Finals.

 

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