Routliffe, Dabrowski move into Australian Open semifinals

Erin Routliffe and Gaby Dabrowski have reached their fourth grand slam semifinal from their fifth attempt by defeating Miyu Kato and Renata Zarazua in the Australian Open quarterfinals on Tuesday.

The No 2 seeds triumphed 6-3 6-2 on Margaret Court Arena in a match that lasted just over an hour and a quarter, half the time it took to beat Beatriz Haddad Maia and Laura Siegemund in the third round on Monday.

Routliffe and Dabrowski broke their opponents twice in the opening set and three times in the second as they put on their most dominant display of the fortnight at Melbourne Park.

Routliffe is back on Margaret Court Arena later on Tuesday, when she’ll partner with Michael Venus for a mixed doubles quarterfinal against Asia Muhammad and Andres Molteni.

During an interview on court straight after the match, Routliffe thanked Dabrowski for how well she played at the net during the match.

“She absolutely crushed it and saved my ass when I was serving a couple times,” Routliffe said. 

“Gaby's amazing, I always say that when I started playing with her, I got better at the net because I had no choice, because she was so good at the net, I was like 'damn, I'd better up my game. So I'm glad she's my partner, that's for sure.”

Although the scoreline suggested this was a straight forward match, Routliffe did compliment Kato and Zarazua for how well they played.

“They were a really tough team,” she said. 

“They had a great tournament. we never played Renata before, and she was really good. Miya, we've played a few times, but never together. So we were excited for the matchup today, and really happy that we got through and have a chance to go again.”