Erin Routliffe has kept her Wimbledon dream alive for another day, progressing to the ladies’ doubles quarterfinals with Canadian partner Gabriela Dabrowski.
“We were ready to play, knew it was gonna be a really, really tough fight today but I'm happy that we get the chance to play again,” Routliffe told 1News.
Their Kiwi-Canadian duo scored a third-round victory against Russian Irina Khromacheva and Hungarian Fanny Stollar, with two tiebreakers sealing the deal 7-6(1) 7-6 (2).
Routliffe is the only Kiwi left in the running at Wimbledon, after losing in the mixed doubles with Michael Venus in the first round on Saturday.
She has a message for her New Zealand fans.
“Thank you so much. I know everyone is watching and I'm so, so grateful and hopefully you guys can cheer us on to another match in the quarter-finals, I'm really excited.”
The 30-year-old was born in Auckland but moved to her parent’s homeland of Canada aged four. She’s been representing New Zealand since 2017.
“It's a huge part of me. I've been doing it almost for 10 years now and it really means a lot…”
“Obviously I have the Canadian connection, everyone can hear it in my voice but yeah so happy to do it and I hope I can keep playing and keep making them (New Zealand) proud.”
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In the first set, their opponents were on top early in the match with pressure building on Routliffe and Dabrowski before they clawed their way back to 5 games all.
“Getting broken in our first service game to go down 2-0, it was a little bit tough, you never want to obviously start with a break, but also in women's doubles it's quite common for that to happen because you kind of like work your way into matches.”
On commentary that partner Dabrowski was vulnerable on serve and playing "a bit off" at the start of the second set, Routliffe said the win was a “team effort.”
“She was serving into the sun on the one side, or I guess on both sides… so that was tough and yeah, they were just handling her serve a little bit better but also I need to do a better job of getting first touches off the serve.
“I try to be as supportive as I can and bring us up in the 'in the crunch' moments and try to keep it light and make us laugh so hopefully I did that a little bit today.”
The team achieved their tournament focus of playing aggressively when it counted.
“I did have a couple like slam dunks today. I was like normally I can't jump at all and today I was really jumping so that's good,” Routliffe said.
Going forward, Routliffe said the pair will be focusing on playing “aggressive in the big moments and stay together".
“It's a big thing in doubles to support each other and also keep playing our game plan.”
Routliffe said the pair’s communication and experience, having played together for two years, helps when the pressure is on.
“We've always said, even from the very beginning, that communication is one of our strong suits on the court and we're never like afraid to say what we need to say or what we feel to each other and you know, come together, so I'm happy with that.”
Last year, Routliffe and Dabrowski lost in the final to Czech player Katerina Siniakova and American Taylor Townsend, meaning unfinished business for the pair at Wimbledon.
In November last year, Routliffe and Dabrowski defeated the top-ranked doubles players in the WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Siniakova and Townsend have also progressed to the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
Routliffe and Dabrowski have tasted grand slam success together, winning the US Open in 2023. The pair have set a goal to win multiple Grand Slams, Routliffe said.
“It’s a huge goal of ours, but we're kind of taking it one set, one game at a time, so we'll be just looking at our next opponents now and last year that worked for us.
"I'm glad we won two breakers today.”
Routliffe says Wimbledon is her favourite Grand Slam tournament.
“I love playing here. I love being here and I love representing New Zealand here.
“I wish obviously Lulu (Sun) and Mike were still in it because that would be epic. Last year, we, all three of us, were still going quite deep into the tournament so hopefully next year will be the same and hopefully at US Open we can all pop off a little bit.
"I'm so, so proud to represent New Zealand, and hopefully I can fly the flag a little bit longer.”
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