Routliffe ready to play Miami Open for the first time

Erin Routliffe will be the first of the two Kiwis underway at the Miami Tennis Open. Routliffe is reunited with her Polish partner Alicia Rosolska this week at the WTA 1000 tournament.

They face the well performed Romanian pair of Monica Niculescu and Irina Begu in the first round. The match short start around 8am NZT tomorrow.

It’s Routliffe’s first time at the tournament  and she is amazed by the temporary facility created at the American football stadium home of the Miami Dolphins.

“Yeah, it is really it's really cool because wherever you're playing you can see the Hard Rock stadium obviously right there. They’re building an F1 racetrack right now (for the US Formula One Grand Prix) so there's a lot going on but it is a really cool tournament and I'm really excited to be here.” Routliffe said.

The Kiwi is looking forward to teaming up with Rosolska again, who she has achieved some good results with this year.

“It's always nice to be back with Alicia. We’re comfortable together. I love playing with her. We have fun together. I played Niculescu at the US Open last year so I know a little bit more about her. I don't know Begu that well. I think we’re going to have to focus on our game and try to play the big points well.” Routliffe said.

Michael Venus meanwhile is playing with Britain’s Lloyd Glasspool this week with his regular partner Tim Puetz having to return home to Germany for personal reasons. And it could hardly be a trickier first round assignment for the world number 15 ranked Kiwi.

Venus and Glasspool have been drawn against the second seeds American’s Rajeev Ram and Britain’s Joe Salisbury. The match is likely to be played on Sunday.

“I have known Lloyd for quite a while and we’ve been good friends and have the same circle of friends so we have practiced together a bunch before over the years. It just happened that when Tim withdrew, I needed to re-pair with someone and Lloyd was who I thought would be the best option.” Venus said.

However; the Kiwi realises it will be a tall order combining against the world’s second ranked team.

“Their results and rankings speak for themselves and what they've achieved and Lloyd being British has practiced with Joe quite a bit so we know what they bring and what they do and will have to play at a high level. On the flip side they won't be too sure what we'll do as a team.”