Erin Routliffe, Alicja Rosolska into round of 16 at Wimbledon

Erin Routliffe is into the round of 16 at Wimbledon following a 6-7(3) 7-5 7-6(7) win over Catherine Harrison and Sabrina Santamaria on Saturday.

In a gruelling match that lasted a touch over three hours, Routliffe and Rosolska were able to come back from a break down in the second and third sets before going on to clinch the super tiebreak at the end of the third.

Over such a long match, all four players went through good and bad patches, but Routliffe stood out with her aggressive returns, putting pressure on both Americans’ serves at key moments at the back end of the second and third set.

In the 10-point tiebreak to decide the match the games of both Americans dropped off, with a number of unforced errors and Routliffe and Harrison were able to get up 7-2, but Harrison won the next two points on her serve to get it to 7-4.

But a short time after Santamaria double faulted a 8-6 and when it was match point she then put a forehand into the net.

“I thought it was going to be tough today, it was really windy, so it’s hard to play your best tennis,” Routliffe said afterwards.

“I think all four of us weren’t returning the way we’d like to, but on those days you’ve got to be positive, fight for every single point and I think we did a good job of that, even when we felt like we were down and out. But you’re never down and out until you’re done with the match.

“So I think we did a good job of competing, fighting in the big moments and we come up clutch when it mattered so I’m really happy.

“I know them both really well,” she added. 

“We knew it was going to be a tough one. I think with our game styles it’s a tough match up for us because they lob so much and we feel like we can’t close as much as we can.

“We made some adjustments which I think helped, so it was good. It was a good effort and could have gone to anyone, so I’m happy we got the W and can try again.”

This is the third time Routliffe has reached the third round of a grand slam in her career, having previously done so at the French and US Opens.

Later on Saturday Routliffe and Andreas Miles lost 6-2 5-7 6-4 to Ivan Dodig and Latisha Chan in the first round of the mixed doubles.

Next up for Routliffe and Rosolska is a match against the No 5 seeds Asia Muhammad from USA and Ena Shibahara from Japan on Monday and a win would put the Kiwi into the quarterfinals of a grand slam for the first time.

Meanwhile, Jack Loutit will play his first round match in the boy's tournament on Sunday. He takes on Learner Tien in the first match on court 17, which will be at 11am UK time, 10pm NZ time.

Loutit has teamed up with Australia's Edward Winter for the boys' doubles and on Monday they will play against the British wildcard pairing of Patrick Brady and William Jansen.