Mixed doubles hopes dashed for Routliffe, Venus at Wimbledon

Erin Routliffe and Michael Venus have been knocked out of the mixed doubles in the first round at Wimbledon, losing 6-4 6-4 to Luisa Stefani from Brazil and Britain’s Joe Salisbury.

It was an unusual mixed doubles match played on Saturday, in front of a packed crowd on Court 16. Venus had his serve broken in the first game of each set and both times the Kiwis couldn’t get the break back.

Routliffe and Venus had two break points when Stefani was serving at 2-1 in the opening set and after that, the British/Brazilian team didn’t give up another break point.

“They played really well,” Venus said after the match. 

"I don't know what their first serve percentage was (69%), but it felt like we weren't getting many looks at second serves. 

“They were very clinical, they made first serves and their service partner finished a lot of points. They didn't really give us anything." 

Venus and Routliffe felt there were times when they were getting close to having more break points, but Stefani and Salisbury stayed solid.

“We were on the borderline a couple times of kind of getting going,” Venus said.

“It doesn't help when you go down a break, they're playing ahead and they just kept rolling.

“They played well, we were playing from behind a little bit,” Routliffe added. 

“But we had chances on Luisa's serve once, Joe served unreal. 

“When you're guessing where he's going to go, it's hard to get that and even when we chipped, he did a really good job of, like, taking overheads. I felt like he finished the second ball really well.”

The defeat ends Routliffe and Venus’s mixed doubles campaign for 2025, leaving Routliffe still alive in the women’s doubles.

On Monday (UK time), Routliffe and Gaby Dabrowski will play Irina Khromacheva from Russia and Hungary’s Fanny Stollar for a place in the quarterfinals.