Dabrowski, Routliffe defeat Fernandez, Putintseva in defence of US Open doubles title

NEW YORK — Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand's Erin Routliffe opened their U.S. Open women's doubles title defence Thursday with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Canada's Leylah Fernandez and Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan.

Fernandez, from Laval, Que., and Putintseva broke serve on their first opportunity but their top-seeded opponents took the next four games en route to victory in 71 minutes.

Dabrowski, from Ottawa, and Routliffe will play American Catherine Harrison and Poland's Alicja Rosolska in the second round.

Dabrowski won mixed doubles bronze at the Paris Olympics earlier this month with Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime.

In men's singles, Montreal qualifier Gabriel Diallo upset 24th-seeded Arthur Fils of France 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4 later Thursday in second-round play.

After winning the second set, the 20-year-old Fils went up 3-2 in the third before Diallo won four consecutive games to take the set. The 143rd-ranked Diallo did the same in the fourth set to win the match, which lasted three hours 29 minutes.

Diallo, 22, is set to face 14th-seeded Tommy Paul of the United States in the third round.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2024.