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Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe found themselves in the tougher of the two groups at this year’s WTA Finals in Riyadh, and as defending champions no less.

No matter; the pair leaped over the first hurdle Sunday in defeating the young Russian team of Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider 6-3, 7-6 (2) to go up 1-0, with two pool matches to come.

Andreeva and Shnaider served for the second set, but the Cana-Kiwis ran off five of the last six games to take it.

“They’re a really tough matchup for us. Their lobs are amazing, their defence is amazing,” Routliffe said during the post-match interview on court. “I thought we did a great job in the big moments of putting away the ball and staying aggressive.”

First win over the kids

Dabrowski and Routliffe were dispatched in Doha in February by the Russians, 6-2, 6-1. They also were beaten 11-9 in a match tiebreak by Andreeva and Shnaider in the Rome quarterfinals.

Since then, the two youngsters have gone through some … growing pains – notably Andreeva, who flamed out a bit in singles when a spot this week seemed all but assured for her.

Next up on Tuesday will be the winner between the two other teams in the pool: Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, or Timea Babos and Luisa Stefani.

Taking a break

Dabrowski and Routliffe went their separate ways for a few weeks during the Asian swing, with Dabrowski heading home to attend a wedding and Routliffe taking a break. The pair had won both Cincinnati and the US Open this summer, and went down to Monterrey during the week in between.

Routliffe played with Leylah Fernandez in Wuhan. And then Dabrowski played with Sofia Kenin in Tokyo, losing a tight one in the quarterfinals to Babos and Stefani.

Cana-Kiwis are US Open champions

A year ago, they won out in Riyadh, taking all three of their round-robin matches (two of them comeback wins in the match tiebreaks) and winning the semis and finals without dropping a set.

But it’s a very different roster that faces them this week; last year, they beat Chan and Kudermetova, Dolehide and Krawczyk and Paolini and Errani during the round robin.

Only the last of those could truly be considered the equals of their pool this time around.