Bouchard, Dabroswki into Chennai doubles semis; Zhao loses to Gracheva

CHENNAI, India — Canadians Eugenie Bouchard and Gabriela Dabrowski and their partners are through to the doubles semifinals of the Chennai Open tennis tournament.

Bouchard, from Westmount, Que., teamed with Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer for a 5-7, 6-3, 12-10 win over the Russian tandem of Anastasia Gasanova and Oksana Selekhmeteva.

In a match in which both teams split the available points at 74 each, Bouchard and Wickmayer moved on by preventing their opponents from cashing in on break opportunities.

Wickmayer and Bouchard faced break point 13 times, but successfully defended nine of them. They converted four of the seven break chances they had.

Bouchard, who returned to action last month after a months-long recovery from shoulder surgery, is set to have a busy day in Chennai on Friday. She will team with Wickmayer to face Russia's Anna Blinkova and Natela Dzalamidze of Georgia in a doubles semifinal match, and will meet Nadia Podoroska in a singles quarterfinal.

Earlier, the top-seeded team of Ottawa's Dabrowski and Brazil's Luisa Stefani downed the Indian duo of Rutuja Bhosale and Karman Thandi 6-0, 6-3.

Dabrowski and Stefani won 72.1 per cent of service points, including 87.1 per cent on first serve, compared to 38.9 for their opponents. They converted five of their six breakpoint chances, and failed to defend the only break point they faced.

Dabrowski and Stefani will face Thailand's Peangtarn Plipuech and Japan's Moyuka Uchijima in a semifinal Saturday.

Dabrowski and Stefani are teaming in Chennai for the first time since the 2021 U.S. Open, when Stefani had to withdraw in the semifinals with a knee injury that ultimately required surgery. They had a successful partnership that year, including a title at the National Bank Open In Montreal, before

Dabrowski is trying for her 12th career WTA doubles title and second this season. She teamed with Mexico's Giuliana Olmos to win the Madrid Open in May.

Also Thursday, Carol Zhao of Richmond Hill, Ont., came up short in her bid to join Bouchard and Vancouver's Rebecca Marino in the singles quarterfinals with a 6-1, 7-5 loss to second seed Varvara Gracheva of Russia.

Marino, seeded seventh in Chennai, will face third seed Magda Linette of Poland in Friday's quarterfinals.

Linette advanced with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Russia's Oksana Selekhmeteva on Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2022.

Note to readers: CORRECTS spelling of Dabrowski in headline