Routliffe, Ostapenko stay alive in Charleston

Erin Routliffe and Jelena Ostapenko are through to the semifinals at the Charleston Open in South Carolina.

In their quarterfinal match, the top seeds defeated Ekaterina Alexandrova from Russia and China’s Zhang Shuai 7-5 6-3.

Played in front of a big crowd on Althea Gibson Court, Routliffe and Ostapenko were able to raise their game at the big moments. 

They saved seven of the 11 break points they faced and broke their opponents seven times in a match dominated by long rallies.

This is Routliffe’s first semi-final since getting that far at the Australian Open with her regular Partner Gaby Dabrowski in January. 

This is Routliffe’s first tournament with a different partner since last August, when she won the Cincinnati Open with Asia Muhammad.

In the semifinals, Routliffe and Ostapenko will play against the winner of the match between Sofia Kenin and Lyudmyla Kichenok against Hailey Baptiste and Caty McNally.

Ostapenko, from Latvia, is still alive in the singles draw in Charleston and in the third round plays against Danielle Collins.