Routliffe, Dabrowksi advance to Wimbledon quarterfinals

Erin Routliffe and Gabby Dabrowski have advanced to the quarterfinals of the ladies doubles at Wimbledon, following their 6-3 6-1 win over Marta Kostyuk and from Ukraine and Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse.

Because of the continual poor weather at Wimbledon on Tuesday, the match was moved to No 1 court and the decision was made to allow anyone with ground passes in to watch the match.

It was a nice gesture by Wimbledon organisers and Routliffe said she appreciated the extra support from tennis fans, who had spent so much time waiting around in the rain.

“We love when people come to our matches, it makes it so much more enjoyable,” Routliffe said. 

“Wimbledon is really nice, because there are always a lot of fans, no matter what court you play on.

“They love tennis and they love supporting everybody, but it’s definitely extra special to play on Court 1 and they open it, everyone was really enthusiastic about watching us.”

As for the match against Kostyuk and Ruse, although the scoreline suggested it was one-sided, Routliffe and Dabrowski did have to battle for the win.

“We knew it was going to be tough,” Routliffe said. 

“I played them in the round of 16 at the French Open with Leylah (Fernandez), so I know they’re a tough team.

“I got here at 8.30am and it was a long day of waiting. The weather has been really rough and I’m happy to get through that one because it’s really tough to play when you’re sitting around all day.

“But I got the opportunity to play on Court No 1, which was amazing. I watched Lulu today and it worked out well with the weather, because I haven’t been able to watch her as much.

“So in my down time when I was chilling I thought I’d go watch her, which was fun.

To see her on that court was cool and then to play on it was awesome.”

Routliffe watched Sun’s three-set loss to Donna Vekic from Sun’s player box and she’s tried to watch her as much as possible during Wimbledon, including qualifying.

Like all New Zealand tennis fans, Routliffe was blown away by what the 23-year-old Kiwi achieved.

“It’s mind-blowing,” Routliffe said. 

“I think what everyone can learn from her is that she believes in herself every time she went on the court.

“She handled the big moments that she’s never been in before absolutely incredibly.

"Everyone thinks that when the lower-ranked players are in those moments they crack, because they haven’t been there before.

“But she showed that’s not true and if you believe in yourself you can do anything.

“She has a huge game, she has extra confidence now and I hope this pushes her to even bigger heights.

“She’s already made history for New Zealand tennis, which is amazing. I hope she can do even more and we can do it together too. I’m really excited to play with her at the Olympics.”