Routliffe, Dabrowski surge into US Open quarterfinals

Erin Routliffe and Gaby Dabrowski moved into the quarterfinals of the US Open with a 6-4 6-2 win over Nicole Melichar-Martinez from the United States and Spain’s Cristina Bucsa on Monday (Tuesday NZ time).

The 2023 US Open champions went about their work in impressive fashion to beat the No 13 seeds, with Routliffe serving superbly and Dabrowski making the most of every opportunity she had at the net.

With Coco Gauff playing against Naomi Osaka playing on Arthur Ashe Stadium at the same time as this match, there was a smallish crowd on Court 5 to view this contest, but those who did watch, witnessed a high quality performance from the No 3 seeds.

Routliffe and Dabrowski raced out to a 3-0 lead at the start of the match, before the latter had her serve broken in the next game.

But the Kiwi/Canadian players kept hold of their other break advantage and Routliffe held serve to love at 5-4 to secure the opening set.

Bucsa was broken in the first game of the next set and the match was effectively sealed when the Spaniard was broken again in her next service game.

After one hour and 20 minutes of play, Routliffe served out the match, with Melichar-Martinez overhitting a lob on the final point.

In the quarterfinals, Routliffe and Dabrowski will go up against the 11th seeded Timea Babos from Hungary and Brazil’s Luisa Stefani.