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PARIS

For the second time in as many matches, Gabriela Dabrowski and partner Mate Pavic earned a come-from-behind victory in order to advance into the French Open mixed doubles final. The Canadian-Croatian duo secured its spot by defeating the unseeded duo Nadiia Kichenok and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi 6-7(4), 6-1, [10-8].

After dropping the opening set, the No.2-seeded Dabrowski and Pavic bounced back in a big way. They started the second set by scoring two consecutive breaks and winning five-straight games before forcing a decisive tiebreak for a spot in the final. There, in the “super-tiebreak”, a strong serve by the Croatian on match point went unreturned to give Dabrowski and Pavic another crack at the title.

Their victory sets up a rematch of last year’s final at Roland-Garros, in which Dabrowski and Pavic lost to Latisha Chan and Ivan Dodig in heartbreaking fashion 1-6, 7-6(5), [8-10].

Gaby’s latest return to the final also marks the third year in a row she’s done it in Paris. In 2017, playing with India’s Rohan Bopanna, the Ottawa native won the French Open mixed doubles title to become the first Canadian woman to ever win a Grand Slam.

Tomorrow, she’ll try and earn her third career Grand Slam title in mixed doubles. The final is set to start not before 7am EST on Court Simmone-Mathieu.

Fernandez scores two wins in a matter of hours

Photo: Mauricio Paiz

Leylah Annie Fernandez picked up where she left on Tuesday, winning two consecutive matches three hours apart, to advance to her second straight French Open Juniors semi-final. The 16 year old from Laval started her day by ousting the No.15-seed Sohyun Park in straight sets 6-2, 6-0. The teenager closed out the match in 49 minutes, by winning 10 straight games to earn her spot in the quarters.

Once there, Fernandez wasted no time grabbing her spot in the semis. The top-seeded Canadian crushed her opponent Elsa Jacquemot of France 6-0, 6-0 in just 42 minutes. Leylah managed to win 54 of the 74 points in the match.

Fernandez now enters the semi-finals having won nine-straight matches and a ridiculous 22 games in a row. She’s also lost just 13 games over four matches so far in Paris.

Fernandez will now face No.3 seed and Columbian Maria Camila Osorio Serrano for a chance to reach the final. Her match is scheduled for 5am EST on Court 14.

Baadi ousted in first-ever Junior Grand Slam QF

Photo: Mauricio Paiz

Taha Baadi got off to a great start on Thursday. He opened up Day 12 of the French Open by taking down Japan’s Keisuke Saitoh in straight sets 7-6(3), 6-2.

After dominating the first set tiebreak, the unseeded Canadian carried that momentum into the second set. The 17 year old scored two early breaks en route to securing his first career quarter-finals appearance at a Juniors Grand Slam.

Because of Wednesday’s inclement weather, Baadi was forced to play that quarter-final match later in the day.

Facing unseeded American Toby Alex Kodat, the Canadian teenager couldn’t muster up the same result he produced earlier, losing in straight sets 7-6(3), 6-2. Baadi fought as hard as he could. In the opening set, he managed to save one set point before forcing a tiebreak. Then, after being broken twice in the second set, he did all he could to extend the match, saving one match point before losing it on the next point.

Still, it was a great showing for Taha, who was also playing in his first-ever Junior Grand Slam event.

(Feature photo: Mauricio Paiz)

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