Routliffe and Dabrowski miss out on final in Tokyo

Erin Routliffe and Gaby Dabrowski have lost in the third set tiebreaker in their semifinal at the WTA 500 tournament in Tokyo.

On Saturday night Routliffe and Dabrowski were defeated 4-6 6-2 10-5 by local players Shuko Aoyama and Eric Hozumi.

The Japanese team got a crucial break towards the end of the first set and had another in the first game of the second set.

But Routliffe and Dabrowski then peeled off four straight games to take control of the second set and send the match the full distance.

However, in the third set super tiebreak Aoyama and Hozumi went through another strong patch to secure their spot on the final.

Meanwhile, Lulu Sun has entered next week’s Hong Kong Open after missing the last through weeks because of an injury.

Sun, ranking No 41 in the world, has been drawn against Sara Saito from Japan in the first round. Saito, the world No 158 has had just two WTA Tour main draw wins in her career, but is 1 and 0 against top 50 players.