Top seeds are supposed to win finals, but I don’t think that ranking put any particular pressure on Erin Routliffe and Gaby Dabrowski when they faced Ekaterina Alexandrova and Zhang Shuai in the decider in Stuttgart. Routliffe and Jelena Ostapenko had beaten them in the quarter-finals in Charleston two weeks earlier, and the other pair were unlikely to have improved too much in the intervening period. Alexandrova aced Routliffe in the opening game before the New Zealander ended the first good rally of the match with a beautiful backhand volley, but Alexandrova held easily enough before Dabrowski did the same.
Zhang won her first two points before hitting three unforced errors in a row, and Alexandrova sent a backhand volley over the baseline to give away the first break of serve. Zhang did hit a beautiful return off Routliffe in the next game, pulling the ball from the middle of the court into the tramline, but that was the only point lost by the New Zealander. Alexandrova ended up at deuce when Zhang was forced into a backhand error, and a fabulous backhand return down the singles sideline by Dabrowski won the deciding point and earnt a second break.
The next game was as good as you could hope to see, with every one of the six points ending in a superb winner. It started with a beautiful soft backhand volley from Routliffe before she took the second point with the shot of the match, an incredible stretch to make a fabulous forehand stop volley. Next came a fabulous forehand drop volley into the tramline from Dabrowski before Zhang chimed in with a lovely backhand volley down the tramlines and a terrific cross-court backhand lob. That was all capped off by a service winner out wide from Dabrowski, the ball flying into the side netting off Zhang’s racquet.
Zhang dropped herself to deuce when she sent a forehand over the baseline, and that gave the top seeds their first set point. A great serve saw Dabrowski’s cross-court backhand return go into the net, which still left Routliffe serving for the set. Alexandrova took the first point with a fabulous inside-out backhand winner before Routliffe lost the game when she was forced to hit a backhand volley into the net.
Alexandrova had just as tough a game, winning the first point when Routliffe dumped a forehand into the net before losing the rest, Dabrowski eventually breaking serve when she finished the game with winning backhand and forehand volleys. The set had taken 33 minutes.
Dabrowski held to love to start the second set, but Alexandrova got taken to deuce when the ball ended up in the net, with Routliffe smashing a volley into Zhang’s foot to win the deciding point. The advantage was short-lived, Zhang getting her revenge with a beautiful forehand lob onto the baseline to get to deuce before Routliffe was forced to hit a backhand volley into the net at the end of a short rally. Any hope of a renaissance was quickly snuffed out when Zhang also lost her serve, despite a fabulous backhand drop volley from Alexandrova.
The best rally in the match came on the last point of Dabrowski’s next game, the incredible 13 shot exchange ending with a fantastic backhand volley from the Canadian. Alexandrova was then facing two break points after being forced to hit a backhand into the net, but she forced Routliffe into a return error before Dabrowski’s backhand volley down the tramline landed a fraction long. The deciding point saw a slice of luck as well when Alexandrova’s cross-court forehand hit the net cord and deflected over Routliffe’s waiting racquet.
Routliffe then held comfortably before a forehand volley into the net from Alexandrova gave away three match points on Zhang’s serve. The first two were saved by return errors, and she aced Dabrowski down the middle to win the deciding point. Routliffe added another entry to the highlights package when she hit a fabulous soft inside-out backhand volley into the tramlines to start Dabrowski’s next game, and Zhang’s second forced return error gave the top seeds three more match points.
A double fault was followed by a beautiful cross-court backhand winner from Zhang to get them to deuce, but the latter’s backhand return of the deciding point went just a fraction long. The final score was 6-3, 6-3, and the match had lasted an hour and 16 minutes. It was Routliffe’s 26th doubles title, and her tenth at main tour level.