Routliffe upbeat ahead of ASB Classic campaign

She’s ranked world number 30 in doubles and Erin Routliffe believes she can transfer the form that has taken her to the top echelon of women’s doubles players to the singles court on Tuesday.

The 27-year-old Kiwi wildcard has been drawn against Romanian qualifier Elena Gabriela Ruse in the first round of Auckland’s ASB Classic. The 25-year-old Ruse has been ranked as high as 51 in the world and at 116 on the WTA rankings and will be a formidable opponent for Routliffe who has long given up thoughts of ‘making it’ as a singles player.

Routliffe is the top seed for the women’s doubles with American partner Caroline Dolehide and they play their first-round match on Monday afternoon against Mexican Fernanda Contreras Gomez and American Catherine Harrison in the first round.

“I haven’t been back since February 2020 when we played the Fed Cup in Wellington, so it had been almost three full years. So being back in New Zealand is so good.” Routliffe said.

“I haven’t played a lot of singles of late but I obviously practice a lot of points and I play against top players in the world every single week so I try to back myself to be able to compete with them. I know I can compete with them on the doubles court clearly and singles for me, I've been playing the last couple of weeks just for some competition to lead up into the season and it's always good for fitness, for my movement.”

While Routliffe will be a massive underdog against Ruse, she certainly exudes plenty of confidence.

“I think I have the confidence in the game to kind of go up against anybody. So I'm going to do my best and fight and represent New Zealand and use the Kiwi fans to my advantage. Obviously, it'll be tough. I've played her in doubles a few times, never in singles, but she's a great player.”

“My game revolves around my serve and I think it's even more like that on the singles court to try and get the advantage early in the points and keep the points as short as I can. I've been practicing on that court a bit in the last few days. So hopefully, I'll be used to it by the time I play.”

Routliffe is the top seed with Dolehide for the doubles despite not playing with her regular partner Alicja Rosolska who is representing Poland at the United Cup instead.

“Caroline texted me a few weeks ago and said she was looking for a partner for Auckland and that was kind of perfect because I knew I would play with Ala (Rosolska) for Adelaide, and for the Australian Open. But I was looking for somebody for Auckland. We have never played together before but I like her game. She has a really big serve so I'm excited to be up at the net and be aggressive.” Routliffe said.

The Kiwi has had a close look at their first-round opponents.

“Yeah, I know them quite well I actually practiced with them today, like 10 minutes before the draw came out, which is typical. But they both played in college and were really successful players.”