Routliffe, Dabrowski surge into Cincinnati semifinals

Erin Routliffe and Gaby Dabrowski have reached the semifinals of the WTA 1000 tournament in Cincinnati, thanks to a straight-set win over Caty McNally and Linda Noskova.

The second seeds defeated the American/Czech Republic duo 6-2 7-6(3) on Thursday (Friday NZ time) in a match that went for one hour, 25 minutes.

Routliffe and Dabrowski both served superbly during the match, hitting six aces and impressively, they won 74.1 per cent of the points on their second serve. 

The Kiwi/Canadian team also saved nine of the 11 break points they had against them.

This is the first semifinal Routliffe and Dabrowski have reached together since Strasbourg in May and is a timely return to top form ahead of the US Open.

In the semifinals, Routliffe and Dabrowski will play against Lyudmyla Kichenok from Ukraine and Australia’s Ellen Perez.

Regardless of how well Routliffe does over the rest of the Cincinnati Open, Routliffe will remain at No 7 in the world rankings.