NZ training paying off for Routlffe, Dabrowski at Australian Open

Erin Routliffe is full of gratitude for her doubles partner Gaby Dabrowski, who chose to join her for a training block in New Zealand ahead of the Australian Open instead of competing elsewhere.

Routliffe and Dabrowski have their semifinal match against Hsieh Su-Wei and Jelena Ostapenko on Friday and it will be their fourth Grand Slam semifinal together in their fifth attempt.

What’s stood out with their run at this Australian Open has been that they’ve got to the semifinal without playing in any lead in tournaments, because of Routliffe’s rib injury.

The duo, which won the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia last year, had planned to start their season off playing the ASB Classic, but because Routliffe was still recovering from her injury, they had to skip it.

Routliffe came to Auckland anyway to continue her recovery and rather than play other tournaments in Australia, where she could have picked up more prize money and ranking points, Dabrowski chose to join her for a small training block.

“I think any time on court together when you've had a break is nice,” Routliffe said. 

“A lot of partners probably wouldn't have done that, they would have played Adelaide with somebody else to try and to feel match tough and all that stuff, because it's a balance. 

“You're trying to feel good together, but then you're also trying to feel good separately, to just be confident in yourself. 

“That was super good of her and good for our teamwork together. 

“It is a bit rare, but I appreciated that she took the time to come and to spend extra time on court together, because that always helps us.”

Last year at Melbourne Park they lost to Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok in the semifinal and going deep at Grand Slams has been a regular occurrence for Routliffe and Dabrowski, but the Kiwi says it’s exciting for her to play in a semifinal.

“I played the semi here last year, and so love getting the opportunity to play again,” she said. 

“We'll focus on our stuff that we do well and watch them, they're a new team. 

“Obviously, we've played them separately, never played them together. So that'll be exciting, it's always fun to play a new team, We're really excited.”

Ostapenko and Hsieh will be tricky opponents for the No 2 seeds. Although Ostapenko is more well known as a singles player, she is also exceptional in this form of the game, while Hsieh is a nine-time grand slam winner and regarded as one of the best doubles players of all time.

Together, they’re an unorthodox team, with the power and groundstrokes of Ostapenko and the speed and doubles knowledge of Hsieh.

“I think a lot of people would say Gaby and I sometimes play unorthodox as well,” Routliffe said. 

“I'm sure we'll have some interesting points. They're both amazing players, Grand Slam champs multiple times and they'll bring it, so we'll bring it too and it'll be exciting.”

The match will be the second women’s doubles semifinal played on Margaret Court Arena  on Friday. The first semifinal, between Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova against Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider begins at 2pm New Zealand time.