Dolehide and Krawczyk Break Home Hearts to Win…

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The third-seeded, all-American team of Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk spoiled the homecoming of Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe on Monday evening, defeating the top-seeded duo 7-6(2), 3-6, [10-7] to claim the women’s doubles title — and their first Hologic WTA Tour championship as a pair — at the 2024 National Bank Open presented by Rogers

Dolehide and Krawczyk, who lost to Dabrowski and Routliffe last month in the semifinals of Wimbledon, found themselves under pressure early, surrendering an early break to the home crowd favourites. Dabrowski and Routliffe had two opportunities to close out the opening set, with Routliffe serving at 5-4. At 40-30, Dolehide hit a deep backhand return that passed Routliffe and landed just inside the baseline. On the following deciding point, Dolehide hit an effective lob over Routliffe’s head, and Krawczyk was ready to pounce on the short reply at the net to get back on level terms.

With the momentum suddenly shifting back in their favour, the Americans began to grow in confidence, winning the first five points of the first-set tiebreak and never really looking back to move one set to the good. Dabrowski and Routliffe — who made their debut as a team at the National Bank Open last year and then went on to win the U.S. Open together — quickly regrouped after falling down an early break in the second, playing much more aggressive tennis and dominating at the net.

The final-set tiebreak proved to be a nail-biting affair, with both teams unable to hold on to their mini-break advantages. In the end, however, Dolehide and Krawczyk were able to play the big points better. After Dabrowski and Routliffe won three points in a row from 7-4 down to draw level at 7-all, the Americans came up with some clutch plays at the net — and took advantage of some missed volleys from Dabrowski — to claim the victory in an hour and 47 minutes.

In the final set, “I think the energy picked up, for sure,” Dolehide said of what made the difference in the final stages of the championship match. “They played some pretty hot tennis in the second, and we kind of maybe dipped a little bit there, just seeing the confidence from the other side, and how much they were kind of coming in and putting pressure on us. I think in the third set tiebreaker we just upped our energy, upped our confidence, trusted our shots, and we went out there together and we got the win.”

Dolehide and Krawczyk’s victory late into Monday evening completed a U.S. sweep at this year’s National Bank Open, following Jessica Pegula’s win over Amanda Anisimova in an all-American singles final. Many of the fans who came out to watch Pegula and Anisimova chose to stay to watch the doubles final — something that the players did not take lightly, especially on a weeknight.

The atmosphere “was really fun. Obviously they were against us, but I think for women's doubles that's just great to have such a big turnout after the singles final, and we really appreciate it,” Krawczyk said.

“Yeah, with or against us, you know, people showing up for a 9:00 p.m. doubles match, that's a big thing,” Dolehide added. “We'll take what we can get at this level, at the highest level, at this 1000 Masters.”

Dolehide and Krawczyk, who were runners-up at the Qatar Total Open in Doha in February, will now move up three spots to No. 3 in the doubles race to the WTA Finals. The compatriots will also be sitting at career-high doubles rankings after this week — Krawczyk moves back to No. 8 in the world, while Dolehide will move up to No. 12.

Read also: Anisimova Keeps Making Strides

Having committed to playing together on a full-time basis after the Australian Open earlier this year, Dolehide and Krawczyk credited their breakout week at the National Bank Open not only to their individual levels of play but also the trust that they’ve forged as a team.

“We had to learn to adapt to each other and see what our strengths were, see what works for us as a team, and then also that comes with winning more matches you're gaining more confidence in each other and trusting each other and believing in each other,” Krawczyk said. “I think if you're comfortable and you have good chemistry off the court it's going to translate into the matches, and it's definitely showed. We've had a good year, and we want to keep going. It's our first Masters [title], and I'm so excited to do it with Caroline.”

Feature Photo : Tyler Anderson