Loss for Routliffe, Dabrowski in Australian Open semis
Friday, 26 January 2024
A hard-fought match, but unfortunately a loss for New Zealand's Erin Routliffe and Canadian Gaby Dabrowski in the semifinals of the women's doubles at the Australian Open.
The fourth seeds and US Open champions were beaten by Lyudmyla Kichenok (Ukraine) and Latvian Jelena Ostapenko 7-5 7-5 on Margaret Court Arena in 1 hour 35 minutes.
Routliffe and Dabrowski were ahead 5-3 in the first set, but then their opponents reeled off four games in a row as Ostapenko in particular took control of the match with increased shot making.
"They had to hit their shots when the time came. They were more aggressive when they came up with the shots. I think we let them have their shots," said Routliffe.
The second set was a repeat of the first with the New Zealander and Canadian up 5-3 again, but they were broken twice and saw their European opponents take charge.
For Routliffe there's still plenty of pleasing aspects to her Australian Open performance.
"It's only our second tournament we've played together this year and I'd never won a match here before."
Routliffe will see her world ranking improve to six on Monday and will join up with Dabrowski again for the tournaments in the Middle East next month.
As a combination they take home A$227,000 in prizemoney.
The next tournament for Routliffe will actually be the US$75,000 ITF tournament at Burnie, Tasmania starting in just a few days.
Routliffe will team up with fellow kiwi Paige Hourigan in a bid for the Olympics.
"I really want to be an Olympian," said Routliffe.
"I have to choose a week when Gaby and I are not together to team with Paige."
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