INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa and her Brazilian partner, Luisa Stefani, opened the WTA Finals doubles tournament at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Monday with a straight-sets win over Belgian Elise Mertens and Zhang Shuai of China.
Dabrowski and Stefani won the one-hour, 36-minute match 6-3, 7-6 (5).
Group Play Begins
Dabrowski and Stefani are the top seeds in Group 1, a four-team round-robin. They will face Kristina Mladenovic of France and Hanyu Guo of China, as well as Su-Wei Hsieh of Taiwan and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia.
Match Statistics
Dabrowski and Stefani finished with three aces, seven winners, five double faults and 14 unforced errors. They won nine of 11 service games and three of 10 return games.
Mertens and Zhang had three aces, nine winners, two double faults and 12 unforced errors. They won seven of 10 service games and two of 11 return games.