Ottawa's Dabrowski, partner Routliffe bounced from Australian Open women's doubles semis

Considering the challenges Ottawa's Gabriela Dabrowski and her doubles partner Erin Routliffe faced ahead of the Australian Open, including limited preparation, a semifinal finish in the women's doubles was a good result.

But the two had their chances against the newly formed team of Hsieh Su-Wei of Taiwan and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia before falling 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-3 Friday at Melbourne Park.

"Honestly, we could have gone out in the first or the second round, so I'm really proud that we made it to the semifinals with not a lot of prep," Dabrowski said. "I think we did amazing, considering."

Dabrowski and Routliffe, the No. 2 seeds, battled back after losing the first set in each of their first three matches in Melbourne, relying on their doubles prowess to overcome uneven performances.

On Friday, they faced an unorthodox pair. Hsieh, at 39, brings an otherworldly sense of anticipation and is a menace at finishing points at the net. Ostapenko, better known as a singles player but currently ranked No. 6 in doubles, adds the firepower to set up her partner for the finish.

WATCH l Dabrowski, partner Routliffe lose semifinal match:

Ottawa's Dabrowski, partner Routliffe fall in Australian Open women's doubles semis

Both Hsieh and Ostapenko boast impressive doubles resumes, but as a pair, they're untested — their first tournament together was just two weeks ago in Adelaide, where they fell in the opening round.

Dabrowski and Routliffe, who won the 2023 US Open in only their fourth tournament as a team and finished the 2024 season as champions at the year-end WTA Tour Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, found themselves woefully short of training time to start this season.

A rib injury to Routliffe carried over through the