Cincinnati semifinal win for Routliffe, Dabrowski

Erin Routliffe and Gaby Dabrowski are into the final of the Cincinnati Open thanks to a thrilling super tiebreak comeback against Lyudmyla Kichenok from Ukraine and Australia’s Ellen Perez.

The Kiwi and Canadian won the match 3-6 6-3 12-10 and were down two mini breaks in the third set super tiebreak to trail 7-3.

But that’s when the comeback started. They immediately got one of the mini breaks back when Kichenok served at 8-7, Dabrowski crushed the return for a winner.

Dabrowski saved a match point on her serve at 8-9 and then hit an ace, to put the pressure onto their opponents.

Perez won the next point on her serve, but on the next Dabrowski put a volley away to set up a match point on Routliffe’s serve.

After a deep serve from the Kiwi, she dug out a low backhand and steered the ball down centre of the court, between both players.

In the final, Routliffe and Dabrowski will play the winner of the match between top seeds Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini against Guo Hanyu and Alexandra Panova.

It will be Routliffe and Dabrowski’s first final since Stuttgart in April and first one at the WTA 1000 level this year.

Having won the Cincinnati Open with Asia Muhammad last year, Routliffe is on an eight-match winning streak at the tournament.