Siniakova & Townsend Advance to WTA Finals Semifinals, Babos & Stefani Stay Alive

Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend rallied to defeat Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe 6–4, 7–6(3) today at the WTA Finals in Riyadh, securing their place in the semifinals, while Timea Babos and Luisa Stefani defeated Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider 7-5, 2-6, [10-7] to remain in contention.

The second seeds avenged their loss to Dabrowski and Routliffe in last year’s Riyadh final and the recent US Open final, overcoming a 5–2 deficit in the second set. “It’s always tough when you lose to the same team and it’s so close — at the US Open it was just a break in each set,” Townsend said after the match. “We worked really hard the last few days in practice. We compiled all the data from the matches that we’ve played before and came out and just wanted to execute on the game plan.” Townsend’s strong serving performance, not facing a single break point throughout the match, proved pivotal.

Babos and Stefani’s victory was a hard-fought one, marked by momentum swings and a decisive match tiebreak. After dropping the second set, the duo regrouped to eliminate Andreeva and Shnaider, keeping their title hopes alive. “At this stage, every match is very dramatic,” Babos stated. “And overall, I feel like our matches (in particular) are sometimes dramatic.” This result sets up a crucial final group stage match where the winner will advance to the semifinals, while the loser will be eliminated from the tournament. You can find the full WTA Finals scores here.

With their advancement, Siniakova and Townsend will now await their semifinal opponent, while Babos and Stefani will face Dabrowski and Routliffe in a decisive match to determine the second semifinalist from the Liezel Huber Group. The WTA Finals determine the year-end champions in doubles, a prestigious title in women’s tennis.