Sun exits Cincinnati singles, Routliffe progresses in doubles

Lulu Sun has lost her second round singles match at the WTA 1000 tournament in Cincinnati, but Erin Routliffe has reached that stage in the doubles.

Ekaterina Alexandrova from Russia, who is the tournament’s No 12 seed, defeated Sun 6-4 6-2 in a match that lasted 74 minutes.

It was an unusual match where Sun got an early break at the beginning of each set, but wasn’t able to capitalise on them, as the world No 16 fought back each time.

For most of the contest, Sun was able to match her higher ranked opponent, she moved well and was able to stay aggressive. 

However, Sun made a costly double fault when serving on set point at 4-5 in the opening set.

There was another tough moment when Sun was serving at 2-3 in the second set. She mistimed a put away volley at the net on game point and two points later was broken.

Alexandrova got a confidence boost from that and quickly wrapped up the set and the match.

Other than those two key moments, it was a strong performance from Sun and there will be things she can take from the match as she builds up to the US Open.

Earlier in the day on the same court, Routliffe and Gaby Dabrowski defeated Hsieh Su-Wei from Chinese Taipei and Japan’s Ana Shibahara 7-5 7-5.

It was a tricky first round match up for the tournament’s No 2 seeds and they had to save three set points in the opening set.

However, they managed to come through and in the next round will play against Guiliana Olmos and Aldila Sutjiadi.

In the men’s doubles in Cincinnati, Michael Venus and Yuki Bhambri have been drawn against the exciting singles specialists Gabriel Diallo and Ben Shelton in the opening round.

Meanwhile, in Tweed Heads, Australia, Monique Barry and Gabriella Da Silva Fick lost 2-6 6-4 11-9 to Catherine Aulia and Lily Fairclough in the doubles final.