Erin Routliffe wins well in Charleston

It was never going to be easy but Erin Routliffe and her American partner Jennifer Brady are through to the quarter-finals of the Charleston Open after beating the American duo of Jessica Pegula and Asia Muhammad in a high quality match today.

Pegula is ranked 5 in the world in singles and Muhammad has been Routliffe's regular partner since the pair teamed up late last year before playing in Auckland and the Australian Open earlier this year. Last month's Miami Open was the last for Routliffe and Muhammad who are great friends, as a regular doubles pairing.

Routliffe says this tournament is her first with Brady who is a singles player.

"We had a lot of fun out there today. We knew it was going to be a tough first round given that all four on court are good players. It was a high quality match," she says.

Routliffe and Brady won in straight sets 6-4 7-6. As a first-time pairing they started the match strongly, racing to a 4-0 lead after breaking in the first and third games. Pegula and Muhammad grabbed one of breaks back in the sixth game of the set which then progressed on serve with Routliffe and Brady taking the set 6-4 in 38 minutes.

In the second set Routliffe and Brady broke their opponents in the fifth game and held a lead until the tenth game when they were broken back. The match then went to a tiebreaker with Routliffe and Brady "playing a good tiebreak" winning it 7-4.

Routliffe and her partner will play Miyu Kato of Japan and Giuliana Olmos of Mexico in the quarter-finals tomorrow night. 

After the Charleston event Routliffe will join the New Zealand team in New Delhi India to compete at the Billie Jean Cup Group 1 (Asia/Oceania) event from April 7 to 11.