Routliffe, Dabrowski pipped in epic Wimbledon final

Erin Routliffe and Gaby Dabrowski lost 7-6(5) 7-6(1) in the ladies doubles final at Wimbledon to Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova.

The Kiwi/Canadian duo, who won last year’s US Open together, came desperately close to picking up their second grand slam title, but they lost a tight match where both sets went to tiebreaks. 

The match, which was played on Centre Court, didn’t finish until 10.30pm local time, but was still played in front of thousands of spectators.

Despite this loss, Routliffe will become the No 1 ranked doubles player in the world when they are updated next week.

Serving dominated the first part of the opening set, but Townsend, who started to make a few unforced errors, was broken at 4-4.

Dabrowski had two set points on her serve in the next game but she and Routliffe weren’t able to snatch any of them and Townsend and Siniakova got the break back.

In the tiebreak, each team won a point against each other’s serve early on, but Siniakova got her team a mini break, hitting a big return from Dabrowski’s serve and a couple of points later the Czech/American team were up a set.

Routliffe saved a break point in the first game of the next set and Dabrowski had to save three more of them two games later. 

There were a few more big moments over the remainder of the set, but neither team got a break, so for the second time in the final a set was decided by a tiebreak. 

It was one Townsend and Siniakova took control of early and at the change of ends they were up 5-1 and it was a lead they were able to hang onto.

Routliffe was emotional on Centre Court straight after the match and it’s clearly a painful experience to lose a grand slam final, but she said there are things she can take from this Wimbledon experience to make her a better player.

“Right after, is probably the hardest,” Routliffe said. 

“But as you get older and more experienced, you have to get better at losing, because that’s how you learn and be more successful in other tournaments. 

“So definitely, it stings right now, but it makes me want to push for more.”

Meanwhile, Townsend said it was a fantastic experience to finally win a grand slam.

“I feel great. I got 500 text messages,” the 28-year-old smiled. 

“I didn't know that many people had my number. That's going to take a while to go through.

“I mean, I feel amazing. This is my first one, my first Grand Slam title. I've been close two other times. To get over the finish line the way that we did, I think we played so well. We were just locked in, in control. We played our way. It felt good the way we did it.

“I've been working really hard. It just feels really great to be able to do this. I was in the shower, I was like, damn, I really just won Wimbledon. Sorry!”

Despite this loss for Routliffe, it has been a memorable Wimbledon for New Zealand tennis, with Kiwis making it to one final, two semifinals and a quarterfinal.