Australian Open: Kiwi Erin Routliffe, Gaby Dabrowski advance to doubles quarter-finals

Erin Routliffe and Gaby Dabrowski are through to the Australian Open quarter-finals. Photo / Getty Images

By Dave Worsley of RNZ

Another Grand Slam, another quarter-final for the New Zealand and Canadian combination of Erin Routliffe and Gaby Dabrowski.

The second seeded pair are through to the last eight at the Australian Open, but only after another come-from-a-set-down victory.

This time it was over 15th seeds Beatriz Hadda Maia (Brazil) and Germany’s Laura Siegemund 6-7(5) 6-3 6-4 in two hours 29 minutes on Margaret Court Arena.

Routliffe and Dabrowski have now won all three of their matches in the tournament after dropping the first set.

In the first set, they led 5-2 only to see their lead chipped away as Dabrowski was broken in the ninth game and they lost the tiebreak with a Routliffe double fault and net error.

In the second set, Siegemund was broken on three occasions while Dabrowski had one break against her.

The final set featured just the one vital break of serve which went against top 20 singles player Haddad Maia in the 10th game.

The win follows on from their quarter-final performance at the 2024 US Open, a runner-up finish at Wimbledon, semifinal at the 2024 Australian Open and a win at the 2023 US Open.

The pair didn’t play together at the 2024 French Open as Dabrowski was undergoing treatment for cancer.

The victory will pit them against the unseeded pair of Miyu Kato (Japan) and Mexico’s Renata Zarazua for a place in the semifinals at this year’s tournament.

- RNZ