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Cana-Kiwis, Fernandez to the third round of women’s doubles

FLUSHING MEADOWS, New York – The attention on the Canadian doubles side has been on the surprise, last-minute duo of Leylah Fernandez and the legendary Venus Williams.

But the Cana-Kiwis, champions at the WTA 1000 in Cincinnati just a few weeks ago and the No. 3 seeds in the draw, are also rolling along.

Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe moved into the third round on Sunday with a 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2 win over the unseeded team of Quinn Gleason and Ingrid Gamarra Martins.

Here’s what it looked like.

That followed a much more routine opener Thursday, a 6-3, 6-0 victory over the Czech pair of Miriam Skoch and Marketa Vondrousova.

They play No. 13 seeds Cristina Bucsa and Nicole Melichar-Martinez, who won the Monterrey tournament leading into the US Open, on Monday in what could be a challenging one.

Venus and Leylah still going

The pickup wild-card team of Venus Williams and Leylah Fernandez have continued on their unlikely but very popular run this week.

After a tough opener on paper against No. 6 seeds Lyudmyla Kichenok and Ellen Perez (which they won 7-6 (4), 6-3), they won their second round on Saturday by a nearly identical score: 7-6 (1), 6-1 against Ulrikke Eikeri and Eri Hozumi.

Both matches were tentatively scheduled for the Grandstand, with the possibility of being moved to one of the big stadiums if time permitted.

In both cases, time did permit and they drew big crowds on Louis Armstrong Stadium.

Armstrong again for Fernandez-Venus

On Labour Day Monday, they are scheduled on Armstrong from the get-go – the fourth and final match after three singles matches (including two men’s matches) against No. 12 seeds Ekaterina Alexandrova and Zhang Shuai.

Alexandrova is to play Iga Swiatek earlier in the afternoon in singles, on the same court.

Williams and Fernandez are in the half that contains No. 1s Townsend and Siniakova, and No. 5s Shnaider and Andreeva.

Dabrowski and Routliffe could have the No. 2 seeds, Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini, to contend with.

So an unlikely (nearly) all-Canadian women’s doubles clash could only happen in the final.

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