Routliffe, Dabrowski bow out fighting at Wimbledon

Erin Routliffe and Gaby Dabrowski have lost 7-5 7-6(4) to Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens from Belgium in the ladies' doubles quarterfinals at Wimbledon.

The tournament’s second seeds put up a huge fight, as they had in all their previous matches, but a few crucial points went against them at the end of each set.

This loss brings Routliffe and Dabrowski’s record together in grand slams to 25 wins and five losses, stretching back to their title-winning run at the US Open in 2023.

The match was played on No 1 Court, as the earlier one between Amanda Anisimova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was won by the former in straight sets, freeing up some availability on the show court.

Kudermetova had her serve broken in the match’s first game, but Routliffe was broken in the sixth game to hand the lead back.

Two games later Dabrowski faced two break points on her serve and Routliffe saved her with a couple of big smashes.

At 5-6, Kudermetova and Mertens had a set point on Dabrowski’s serve and after a long rally the Canadian overhit a backhand slice.

Routliffe and Dabrowski got a break in the fifth game of the next set, but three games later Dabrowski’s serve was broken for the second time.

Routliffe and Dabrowski went a mini break up in the first point of the tiebreak, but Routliffe then double faulted. 

It was all level at the first change of ends and the tension built as the points went by.

With Routliffe serving at 4-5, Kudermetova hit a shot which kissed the chalk as it flew by into the corner, then on match point Dabrowski couldn’t control a blistering return at the net — and just like that, their battle was over.

“They're obviously two really good players, a good pair that we've haven't played before,” Routliffe said of the match. 

“It was really tight. We had a lot of chances, obviously, being a break up in both sets. But I thought it was a pretty high quality match all around.”

Dabrowski said that although she felt she and Routliffe didn’t play badly, Mertens and Kudermetova played exceptional tennis.

“They're playing really well,” she said. 

"They played well a couple years ago when they won the WTA Finals too. 

“So definitely a quality team, but so are we. We made it a really close match and it just really sucks to lose that one.”