Erin Routliffe primed for deep run at Big Apple

If Erin Routliffe wanted the perfect preparation for the US Open with her new partner, she couldn’t have picked a better build up than her week in Cleveland.

Routliffe and her new partner Gaby Dabrowski defeated the world No 1 pair Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova in the quarterfinals, for one of the biggest wins of Routliffe’s career.

Unfortunately, Routliffe and Dabrowski lost an extremely tight semifinal 5-7 7-6 10-7 to Aldila Sutjiadi from Indonesia and Japan's Miyu Kato, but regardless, it was a great build up to the final grand slam of 2023 for Routliffe and Dabrowski.

The 6-7 7-6 11-9 victory over Krejcikova and Siniakova showed the potential the Kiwi and Canadian team can have in New York and Routliffe said it was a tough battle, but thankfully one where they eventually came out on top.

“It was a really long match,” Routliffe said. 

“Obviously, they’re an amazing pair, I think they’d been wanting matches, because I think they’ve both been a bit injured and not really playing singles and doubles.

“But we knew it was going to be really tough and we just tried to focus on the process, woking on the stuff we’d been doing in practice. 

“In the end it worked out and it was a point here and there, but we were happy with it and to get a least one more match before the US Open.”

Tennis is a sport where players are constantly riding a rollercoaster of emotions. It can take a long time to get over heartbreaking losses and these are probably dwelled on more than fantastic wins.

But Routliffe says it’s important to be able to move on from either outcome.

“With this life it’s really hard, but you can’t get too high or low with anything you do. Just because there are so many emotions every week we go through,” she said.

“immediately afterwards I was really tired. It was two and a half hours long and there was more relief than anything. I think that Gaby and I both believe we can be a really good pair, we just need to figure out our plays and stuff.”

Routliffe and Dabrowski have only been playing together since Wimbledon, following Routliffe and Alexa Guarachi mutually agreed to split, even though they remain best of friends.

Dabrowski, who is ranked 19 in the world, has been one of the very best doubles players in the world for the past six years.

She reached the women’s doubles final at Wimbledon in 2019 and for five of the last six years she’s reached at least the quarterfinals at the US Open.

Routliffe, who grew up near Toronto, has known Dabrowski for a number of years and says their partnership came about through them both looking for a new team-mate at the same time.

“I’ve known her for years with the Canadian connection,” Routliffe said. 

“I didn’t know her super well, but I grew up watching her, she was really successful as a junior, and obviously as a pro now too. 

“I don’t really know how it happened. Alexa and I decided to split up and Wimbledon was our last tournament together.

“Gaby had split up with her longer term partner (Luisa Stefani) after the French Open, so she was bopping around during the grass [season].

“I reached out, we had a chat and decided we’d give it a go.”

If results so far are anything to go by, it could be a team that goes on to have many more memorable wins together.

The other New Zealander competing at this year’s US Open is Michael Venus, who is teaming up with his regular partner Jamie Murray.