Routliffe, Venus reach Australian Open mixed doubles semis

Erin Routliffe and Michael Venus have made it into the semifinals of the mixed doubles at the Australian Open.

They won their quarterfinal match 6-7(2) 6-1 10-5 against Asia Muhammad from the United States and Argentina’s Andres Molteni to complete a perfect day for Routliffe.

Earlier on Tuesday on the same court, Routliffe and Gaby Dabrowski won their women’s doubles quarterfinal match against Miyu Kato and Renata Zarazua 6-3 6-2. Then a few hours later she backed that up, by teaming up with Venus for an all Kiwi lineup in the mixed doubles.

Once again in Melbourne, Routliffe and Venus were cheered on by passionate Kiwi tennis fans, who made Margaret Court Arena feel like a little bit of New Zealand and early on they needed that support.

A sudden death deuce was lost on Venus’s serve in the second game of the match and they quickly fell behind 3-0. However, they got the break back as Routliffe and Venus started to find some rhythm together.

At 4-5, Venus had to save a set point on his serve, which he did, but in the tiebreak, he and Routliffe both made costly mistakes.

The Kiwis won a deciding point deuce against Molteni in the second game of the next set and that gave them the momentum for the remainder of it.

In the 10-point super tiebreaker there wasn’t anything between the two teams early on, but once the score got to 4-4, both Venus and Routliffe stepped up their returns and ended up winning it comfortably.

“The first set wasn't ideal,” Venus reflected afterwards.

“They obviously played well. There were a few double faults in the first game for me and I wasn't making many returns. 

“Then Erin managed to cheer me up after the first set, and that changed my outlook and perspective and I thought I played a lot better in the second and third set. 

“Erin just kept doing her thing, what she's been doing, so it ended up quite well. But next time, maybe if we can start on a better spot we don't have to play a 10-point tiebreaker. But we seem to be doing well in them.”

In the semifinals on Wednesday they will play against the all-Australian team of Olivia Gadecki and John Peers.

If Routliffe and Venus win that semifinal, Routliffe and Dabrowski play their women’s doubles on Thursday against Hsieh Su-Wei and Jelena Ostapenko.

However, if they lose that mixed doubles match, the women’s semifinal will be moved to Friday.