Dabrowski and Stefani win first China Open doubles title

The China Open crowd was ready to celebrate a Chinese champion Sunday. 

Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani crashed the party instead.

The No. 2 seeds dominated top-seeded Zhang Shuai and Katerina Siniakova 6-1, 6-2 in just 61 minutes in Sunday’s championship match on Capital Group Diamond court to win their seventh team title.

“Obviously today’s performance was like a really great culmination of the entire week, which was awesome for us,” Dabrowski said. “Proud of a lot, really.”

Dabrowski and Stefani continued their great year, winning their fifth title together and second WTA 1000 title, as well as making the finals of Wimbledon in July. Even with the success, the pair remains focused on finishing the year strong, with the WTA Finals still ahead. 

“It kind of feels like job’s not finished in terms of the season still going,” Stefani said. “It’s kind of a mindset that there’s no deadline — to continue improving.” 

Zhang was appreciative of the crowd support and remained optimistic following the setback.

“We gave our best,” she said. “We will come back next year (and) try to win the trophy next time.” 

The 37-year-old Zhang now has played the China Open 17 times in her career. Despite being one of the older players on tour, Zhang is ranked seventh in the world in doubles and isn’t ready to stop playing anytime soon. 

“I never thought in 2026 I would still be playing in the China Open as a player,” she said. “On the WTA tour, this community is like family for me. I don’t feel a tad bit that I want to leave.” 

Zhang missed a swinging forehand followed by a missed overhead to get broken in her first service game. On the other side of the net, Dabrowski and Stefani were rolling on serve, winning 79 percent of their first-serve points in the first set, compared to only 27 percent from Zhang and Siniakova. 

The second set didn’t start much different, with a great volley from Stefani and a missed backhand from Zhang giving the Canadian-Brazilian duo an early break. Dabrowski and Stefani kept rolling winning the next three games to go up 4-0.  

The crowd finally had something to cheer for when Zhang hit some fiery forehands, including a winner up the line to break for 4-2. The cheering proved short-lived as Dabrowski served out the match comfortably to take home the China Open title. 

“Great week in general,” Stefani said. “We played some really tough teams and great players this week. It makes it even more special to come through with the title.”

Dabrowski and Stefani will take the time to celebrate their China Open properly. They have earned a well-deserved day off, which they intend to use to soak up Beijing's great sights.

"We want to bring our physio to the Great Wall," Dabrowski said. "She's never been. We want to see it again with her. That's pretty exciting. We'll probably leave early to do that.

"Then I guess we'll see how much time we have for the rest of the day. We would ideally probably like to maybe see the Forbidden City, maybe the Summer Palace if we have time."

By Ellis von Fintel