Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa, Ontario recorded her second career grand slam tennis title in mixed doubles on Sunday. Dabrowski, teamed up with Mate Pavic of Croatia to win the 2017 Australian Open mixed doubles title.
Dabrowski and Pavic, who were the eighth seeds, beat the sixth seeded pair of Timea Babos of Hungary and Rohan Bopanna of India 2-6, 6-4, 11-9. In an ironic twist, Dabrowski teamed with Bopanna to win the 2017 French Open mixed doubles competition in Dabrowski’s first career grand slam title. Dabrowski and Bopanna beat Anna-Lena Groenfeld of Germany and Robert Farah of Colombia 2-6, 6-2, 12-10.
In Melbourne, Babos and Bopanna were one of two seeds that were beaten by Dabrowski and Pavic. The others were the third seeded duo of Ekaterina Makarova of Russia and Bruno Soares of Brazil. Dabrowski and Pavic wasted no time in beating Makarova and Soares 6-1, 6-4 in the semi-finals.
Makarova is a four-time grand slam champion in doubles tennis and for Dabrowski to be part of a team that clobbered Makarova and Soares is significant. Makarova also won a gold medal with Elena Vesnina of Russia at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Makarova and Vesnina beat Timea Bacsinszky and the legendary Martina Hingis of Switzerland 6-4, 6-4 in the final. Soares is also a five-time grand slam champion in doubles.
