Routliffe & Muhammad Through in Three

In a match of see-sawing fortunes, Erin Routliffe and her American doubles partner Asia Muhammad dug deep and produced their best tennis in the third-set decider to win their second-round women’s doubles match at the Australian Open last night. (Saturday).

They beat Poland’s Magda Linette and Shuko Aoyama of Japan 7-6 4-6 6-3 in a  match  delayed for around five hours when play was suspended on the outside courts at 2.30pm (AEDT) due to extreme heat when temperatures at Melbourne Park soared to 38 degrees Celsius.

It was still hot when the players took to the court in the early evening for a match which lasted nearly two and a half hours and finished in the dark on 1573 Arena. What eventuated was a game featuring contrasting styles – Routliffe and Muhammad both tall and dominant together at net, against the strong ground strokes of Linette and the energy and tenacity of the diminutive Aoyama. Both teams had an identical lead into the tournament, playing events in Auckland, where Linette and Aoyama made the quarter-finals, and Adelaide.

Routliffe and Muhammad will now play Ena Shibahara of Japan and veteran Vera Zvonareva in the third round on Monday.

The first set was a taste of what was to follow. Linette served first and all four players held their first service games. With the match at 2-2,  Routliffe and Muhammad upped their aggression and broke the serve of Linette on their second break point to take a 3-2 lead. Their opponents immediately broke back and both teams stayed on serve until 5-5 when Routliffe and Muhammad capitalised on a tentative service game by Aoyama to break and at 5-4 serve for the set. Again, Linette and Aoyama responded with a break to force the tie-break which Routliffe and Muhammad dominated 7-3, the winning point one of the best of the match with Routliffe fittingly serving and volleying.

Linette and Aoyama came out firing in the second set, breaking Muhammad’s serve in the first game of the set and further securing their lead with a second break in the seventh game to take a 5-2 lead. Routliffe and Muhammad rallied and broke the Aoyama serve, their delight marked with a “let’s go” cry from Muhammad. She then served strongly and with some wonderful net exchanges they pulled the score back to 4-5. Linette didn’t flinch and served out the set.

The sixth seeds, Routliffe and Muhammad started the third set impressively saving three break points on their serve to grab the first game and then breaking Linette with sizzling returns and making life tough with their physicality at the net. They appeared to be cruising with a 4-2 lead, but in the crucial seventh game they were broken. They responded by putting pressure on the Aoyama serve to lead 5-3. Routliffe served for the set, winning it on the third match point, again coming up trumps in playing the big points well.

Routliffe’s mixed doubles match with partner Andre Goransson of Sweden against the French pair of Kristina Mladenovic and Manuel Guinard, was also  due to be played last night, but it has been rescheduled to today, it will be the second match of the day on back on 1573 Arena showcourt.

Meanwhile Kiwi junior Aishi Das has qualified for the main draw of the AO Junior Girls singles event and gets her campaign underway this afternoon on court 14.