Erin Routliffe and Gaby Dabrowski were looking to end the North American swing of the WTA Tour by winning their second US Open title, having warmed up well by winning the lead-up 1000 event in Cincinnati. For the first time in many years the top four seeded teams had made it through to the semi-finals, almost guaranteeing a blockbuster finale, and the third seeds would be facing the top pair in the world, Katerina Siniakova and left-hander Taylor Townsend, the latter having overtaken her partner after Wimbledon to become World number one.
The two pairs had met twice previously, Siniakova and Townsend prevailing in last year’s Wimbledon final before Routliffe and Dabrowski got their revenge in the title match at the World Tour Finals in Riyadh. Both teams had played some amazing tennis as they progressed through their first five matches, with the top seeds winning all their matches in straight sets.
It was Routliffe who got proceedings underway, her only lost point being to a beautiful cross-court backhand return from Townsend. Siniakova hit a fabulous cross-court backhand winner on the way to holding to love, while Routliffe demonstrated her great reach for the first time in the match when she hit a lovely backhand volley to finish her partner’s opening hold to love.
Townsend cruised through her first game as well, acing Routliffe down the middle to finish it off, but it was Dabrowski who won the first of many incredible rallies when she hit a beautiful backhand volley right to the baseline, with Siniakova rightly annoyed with herself that she had left the ball alone. She did hit a beautiful forehand return to win the next point, but Dabrowski’s final forehand volley won the game.
The highlight in the next game was a beautiful inside-out backhand volley from Routliffe, but it was Siniakova who gave away the first break point in the match when she hit a cross-court backhand into the net. Routliffe was in perfect position to convert the opportunity, and whipped away a beautiful angled backhand volley to do so.
Dabrowski conceded a break point of her own when she hit a backhand volley over the baseline, but that was saved as Siniakova ran out of room when trying to avoid the players’ seating. Courtside commentator, and former top doubles player, Rennae Stubbs was highly critical of where the furniture was placed, stating that there was no need for it to be in line with the umpire’s stand, especially considering that this was a final.
Dabrowski was forced to pull a backhand volley wide to end a great short rally after the deuce, but Routliffe saved the break point with a beautiful forehand volley before winning the game with another. The only standout shot when Townsend served was a gorgeous inside-out backhand return from Routliffe, with the comfortable hold leaving the New Zealander to serve for the set.
She lost her first point when Dabrowski was forced into a backhand error, and her second to a fabulous reflex volley from Townsend, and it got even worse when she hit a backhand long to be facing three break points. She saved the first by acing Siniakova out wide, and Dabrowski smashed away volleys to save the other two, with the first coming at the end of another fantastic rally. Routliffe pushed a forehand too far after the deuce, however, and Townsend got the break back when she finished a great rally with a forehand volley.
Siniakova still had to hold serve to keep her team in the set, but her game started just as badly as the previous one. She and Townsend were both forced into errors before she double faulted to give Routliffe and Dabrowski three set points. She saved the first with an unreturnable serve to Dabrowski, but a fabulous return from Routliffe forced Townsend to hit a forehand volley long. The set had taken 41 minutes.
Dabrowski held comfortably to start the second set before Townsend gave away a break point when she hit a forehand volley into the net. She saved that by forcing Dabrowski into a return error, with Routliffe hitting her next forehand return into the net. Townsend’s timing went completely AWOL over the next couple of minutes, as she dumped a backhand into the net before smashing forehand and backhand volleys into the net as well.
Routliffe had another steady service game to consolidate the break, and Siniakova held to love before it was Dabrowski’s turn to have a nightmare game after forcing Townsend to hit a backhand volley over the baseline on the first point. Forced errors either side of a beautiful cross-court backhand return from Townsend gave away break points, and she lost the first of those with a double fault. Townsend held to level the scores before another solid game from Routliffe took her team back into the lead.
The next game from Siniakova stretched through six deuces, and lasted nearly nine minutes, but probably half the eighteen points deserved to be in the highlights package. The second and third points saw two absolutely incredible rallies, lasting 13 and 11 points respectively, with Siniakova winning the first when she hit an amazing forehand onto the baseline.
She lost the second when forced to hit a cross-court backhand wide, but forced Routliffe into a forehand error before the New Zealander hit a fabulous backhand return. A double fault took them to the first deuce, with the next break point coming after the fourth when Routliffe hit a beautiful backhand volley.
The game should have ended right there, but Dabrowski ended a great short rally by hitting a backhand volley over the baseline when she had tons of room to land it safely in the court. She got to the final deuce with a beautiful backhand winner down the tramlines, but Siniakova’s serve finally clicked properly as she completed the game with two unreturnable serves.
Dabrowski lost yet another unbelievable rally on her first point when forced to scramble a backhand lob over the baseline after the incoming ball had slid off the net cord, but won the remaining points to leave Townsend serving to stay in the match. She started with a double fault, and hit another to go to 30-30. Routliffe then produced the shot of the match, a fantastic inside-out backhand winner into the tramlines, to give herself and Dabrowski a Championship point, and Townsend’s despairing backhand lob after chasing the ball to the back of the court floated slowly back over the full length of the court.
The crowd erupted as soon as it became clear that the ball was going to fly long, and Routliffe and Dabrowski were able to celebrate their second US Open triumph. The final score was 6-4, 6-4, and they had been on court for an hour and 29 minutes. It was Routliffe’s 12th title, and fourth this year after Charleston, Stuttgart and Cincinnati. Dabrowski had missed the first of those while undergoing more treatment for her breast cancer, but the best news of the year was hearing that all traces seem to have disappeared.