Routliffe and Rosolska come close to big upset in Berlin

Erin Routliffe and her Polish partner Alicja Rosolska have lost a close first round match at the WTA 500 grass court tournament in Berlin.

They will be frustrated that they were unable to cause a huge upset having match points in the second set before losing to the second seeds in a match tie break.

Routliffe and Rosolska have been beaten 4-6, 7-5, 10-5, in an hour and 43 minutes by second seeds Canadian Gaby Dabrowski and Mexican Giuliana Olmos.

At 2-2 in the second set Routliffe and Rosolska broke Dabrowski for a 3-2 lead and after Routliffe held for 4-2 and upset was on the cards. However, Rosolska was broken in her next service game and the scores were level again. But the unseeded pair were able to break Dabrowski a second time in the set leaving Routliffe to try to serve out the match.

However, the Kiwi couldn’t quite get the job done as she and Rosolska squandered three match points as the second seeds broke back. When Rosolska was broken in the 12^th game the match was level and a set all and was decided in a match tie break which the second seeds won comfortably in the end.

Routliffe and Rosolska are next scheduled to play the WTA 250 event in Bad Homburg in Germany next week before heading to Wimbledon.