Routliffe still alive at Miami Open, but Venus out

Erin Routliffe and her Canadian partner Gabby Dabrowski have advanced to the quarterfinals of the women’s doubles at the Miami Open, but Michael Venus and Yuki Bhambri have been knocked out of the men's doubles.

In the first match on Court No 5 on Sunday (Monday NZ time), Routliffe and Dabrowski, the tournament’s second seeds defeated Miyu Kato from Japan and Indonesia’s Aldila Sutjiadi 6-4 6-4.

Routliffe and Dabrowski were defeated in their previous two matches against Kato and Sutjiadi, losing the third set super tiebreak to them last year in Cleveland and Cincinnati, so this result allowed them finally to get a win over these two players, who are both ranked inside the top 33.

In Routliffe and Dabrowski’s first match at the rain interrupted Miami Open they defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Guo Hanyu from China 6-3 6-2. 

Due to poor weather, some first round women’s doubles matches have yet to be played, so it could be a couple of days before Routliffe and Dabrowski play their quarterfinal.

Meanwhile, Michael Venus and Yuki Bhamri’s lost thei first round match 7-6 (5) 6-4 to the second seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek.

Venus was without his usual partner, Jamie Murray, as the Brit is recovering from an abdominal strain picked up at the recent Indian Wells tournament.

Dodig and Krajicek had a mini break early in the tiebreak, but the Kiwi/Indian were able to get it back and an unreturnable serve from Venus took the score to 4-4.

Bhambri missed a simple volley on the next point, again on Venus’s serve, but then made amends with a nice backhand winner at the next as Krajicek served the next point.

However, the set had a disappointing finish from Venus and Bhambri’s point of view with the latter unable to get a deep backhand over the net when serving at 5-6.

Dodig and Krajicek got a break in the fourth game of the second set and held it until the ninth game, but when serving to stay in the match, Venus and Bhambri were broken again.

It was a tight first set, with all four players dominating with their serves.

Dodig and Krajicek had a mini break early in the tiebreak, but the Kiwi/Indian team were able to get it back and an unreturnable serve from Venus took the score to 4-4.

Bhambri missed a simple volley on the next point, again on Venus’s serve, but then made amends with a nice backhand winner at the net as Krajicek served the next point.

However, the set had a disappointing finish from Venus and Bhambri’s point of view with the latter unable to get a deep backhand over the net when serving at 5-6.

Dodig and Krajicek got a break in the fourth game of the second set and held it until the ninth game, but when serving to stay in the match, Venus and Bhambri were broken again.