Erin Routliffe Expected To Climb To No 2 In Rankings Following Nottingham Title

Erin Routliffe is expected to move up to No 2 in the world rankings following her victory in the final of the WTA 250 tournament in Nottingham with Canada’s Gabby Dabrowski on Sunday.

It was a hectic final day at the Wimbledon lead-in tournament for Routliffe and Dabrowski. Due to poor weather all week, they had to play their semifinal match in the morning, defeating Ashlyn Krueger from America and China’s Zhang Shuai 6-0 6-4.

Then after having a rest, the 2023 US Open champions took on Britain’s Harriet Dart and Diane Parry from France in the final. 

It was Routliffe and Dabrowski’s toughest match of the week, but they came through, winning 5-7 6-4 11-9, saving a championship point in the third set super tiebreak.

Due to the packed schedule on the last day of the tournament, the doubles final was played on No 1, rather than Centre Court, but there was still a big crowd to watch the match, which went for one hour, 42 minutes.

With the points picked up from this, Routliffe is expected to overtake Hsieh Su-Wei in the world rankings when they are updated this week. 

Routliffe said earlier this year that her goal for 2024 was to get to No 1 in the world rankings and she now only has Belgium’s Elise Mertens ahead of her.

This was Routliffe and Dabrowski’s first tournament together since the Canadian’s injury at the Miami Open in March and it sets them up well for Wimbledon, which begins on July 1.

It is Routliffe and Dabrowski’s third career title together and first on grass.

“Harriet and Diane you guys had a great week and that was a really tough match,” Routliffe said after the final.

“This is Gabby’s first tournament back in two and half months and it’s really hard to come and play after you’ve been out for a while, and she did an amazing job this week,” Routliffe said.

Dabrowski added: “I haven’t been here in a few years and I’m really glad I came back and this is our first one on the grass.”

Routliffe and Dabrowski are scheduled to play at the WTA 250 tournament in Birmingham this week.

They are the No 2 seeds and have been drawn against Greet Minnen from Belgium and Britain’s Heather Watson in the opening round.

Meanwhile, New Zealand’s KP Pannu has won the World Tennis Tour’s M15 tournament in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.

In the final, he defeated Fnu Nidunjianzan from China 6-4 5-7 7-6(2). 

Pannu fought back from being down 4-1 in the third set and also saved two match points. this is his second ITF Futures title of the year. 

Ajeet Rai also made the final of the M15 tournament in Hong Kong this weekend but lost 6-4 6-2 to Evgeny Tyurnev from Russia. Rai also reached the final of the doubles in Hong Kong.

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