Ena Shibahara served first in the Zhengzhou Open doubles final when she and Shuko Aoyama played Erin Routliffe and Gaby Dabrowski, and the match couldn’t have started worse for the Japanese pair when Shibahara got broken to love. The first of several great rallies came on just the second point, with Shibahara hitting every shot on the Japanese side, but number 13 was unlucky for her when she hit a forehand into the net.
Routliffe’s fabulous tapped forehand drop volley to start Dabrowski’s first game was the best shot in the match for quite some time, but Dabrowski lost the fantastic rally which followed when she hit a forehand volley into the net. It was the only point she lost, as she won the next with a smash before two return errors finished the game.
Aoyama held comfortably, but Routliffe started with two double faults and an overhit forehand volley, and eventually lost the game when Aoyama finished another great rally with a beautiful backhand volley. Shibahara at least had a better second game than her first, as she only had to save one break point. She did that with a beautiful forehand winner down the left-hand singles sideline, but she lost the incredible rally on the deciding point when she was forced to hit a forehand into the net after 15 shots.
Dabrowski held to love to consolidate the break, but Aoyama followed her partner’s example by having to save a break point, despite Shibahara having hit a beautiful angled backhand volley earlier in the game. Aoyama got to deuce with a fabulous inside-out forehand winner, but overhit a cross-court backhand to lose the deciding point.
That left Routliffe serving for the set, but a beautiful cross-court backhand winner from Shibahara brought up two break points. She overhit her next forehand to give away the first, and a neat forehand volley from Dabrowski got them to deuce. Aoyama took the deciding point, but her forehand return went straight into the net to end the set after 33 minutes.
Shibahara and Aoyama started the second set with comfortable holds, and this time it was Aoyama who lost her first service game. A double fault took her to 0-40, and they only saved two break points before Shibahara was forced into a forehand error, and Routliffe held to love to consolidate the break.
Shibahara lost one point in the next game, but Dabrowski followed with a hold to love before her fabulous angled backhand volley created a break point when Aoyama served next. That was saved by Aoyama’s fantastic cross-court backhand winner into the tramlines, and Dabrowski’s lobbed forehand return of the deciding point went over the baseline.
Routliffe and Shibahara both held comfortably, but the real shot of the match came in the latter game when Routliffe hit one of the hardest returns I’ve ever seen that actually stayed in the court. Aoyama had less than a second to react and get out of the way as the perfectly-timed forehand came screaming back past her to land at least a metre inside the baseline. Ironically it was off the only first serve that Shibahara landed in that game.
All of that meant that Dabrowski was now serving for the Championship, and two forced return errors were followed by Shibahara hitting a forehand into the net. Her backhand return of the final serve went high and a bit too far, and the match was over after an hour and 11 minutes. The final score was 6-2, 6-4.
This is Routliffe and Dabrowski’s second title together, following the US Open, and it confirms their place in the WTA Finals in Cancun, an incredible effort after just over two months together. Routliffe will also move to a new career-high ranking of 13 when the official list comes out tomorrow.
This coming week Routliffe and Dabrowski are the top seeds in the WTA 250 tournament in Nanchang, about 800 kilometres to the south. There are no direct flights, so the trip would take most of the day. There is always the possibility that they could pull out now, having secured their position in Cancun, but it’s not something that you see very often in doubles.