Erin Routliffe of New Zealand serves and Canadian doubles partner Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada is ready at the net during the WTA Finals in Cancun. Photo: AFP
New Zealand's Erin Routliffe and her Canadian doubles partner have been eliminated from the WTA Finals tournament in Mexico on Monday, beaten in a marathon semi-final.
Routliffe and Gabriella Dabrowski launched a fightback from a set down and trailing 4-1 in the second set before going down 6-1 6-7 10-6 to American Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Australian Ellen Perez.
It was a clash of two combinations who were the lowest ranked in the eight-team field at the lucrative season-ending tournament but defied expectations to advance through the group phase.
Seventh seeds Routliffe and Dabrowski didn't drop a set against higher-ranked opposition, including a memorable upset of top-seeded Americans Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula.
However, they started slowly in the semi-final against eighth-seeded opponents who didn't give up a single break point in the first set.
Routliffe and Dabrowski snared a first break of serve midway through the second set and momentum appeared to have swung as they forced a tiebreak, which they won comfortably, 7-1.
However, they couldn't push on in the third set tiebreak, trailing throughout to lose a match that lasted one hour and 37 minutes.
Routliffe's doubles ranking will nevertheless climb inside the top 10 when they are updated this week, reflecting a brilliant run of results since the 28-year-old linked with Dabrowski mid-year, when she was ranked 104th.
New Zealand's Erin Routliffe and Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski celebrate with the trophy following the US Open tennis tournament women's doubles final match, 2023. Photo: AFP
The pair won the US Open in New York two months ago, with Routliffe becoming the first New Zealand woman to clinch a grand slam title for 44 years.
They went on to reach the final of the WTA 1000 tournament in Guadalajara and won the Zhengzhou Open in China to book a berth at the hard court event in Cancun, with Routliffe becoming the first New Zealander to qualify for a WTA finals.
Singles semifinal
Pegula beat US Open champion Gauff 6-2 6-1 on Sunday to reach the singles title match , where she will next face either world number one Aryna Sabalenka or Iga Swiatek.
In the first all-American semi-final at the WTA Finals since the reintroduction of the round-robin format in 2003, Pegula converted six of her 10 break point chances and lost serve just once during the 60-minute encounter.
In the other semi-final, Swiatek faced top seed Sabalenka of Belarus, with the Pole leading 2-1 in the first set before the match, which could decide the year-end world number one ranking, was cancelled for the night due to rain.
If Sabalenka wins the season-ending tournament, she will finish the year as world number one, whereas world number two and four-time major winner Swiatek would need to win the title to retake the top spot from the Australian Open champion.
- RNZ/Reuters
