The New Zealand pairing of Erin Routliffe and Michael Venus has lost a close mixed doubles quarterfinal at the French Open.
They lost 4-6 6-4 10-7 to Laura Siegemund from Germany and France’s Edouard Roger-Vasselin, in a match that lasted 1 hour 26 minutes.
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By getting to the quarterfinals they will split €17,500 (NZ$30,800) and they showed they can mix it with the best doubles teams in the world, narrowly losing to the second seeds.
In a close opening set the kiwi duo pair managed to win a sudden-death deuce point on Roger-Vasselin’s serve in the sixth game.
Routliffe served well in the next game to give herself and Venus a 5-2 lead, but two games later, when Venus was serving for the set, he fell behind 30-40 and on the next point Siegemund put away a volley at the net.
However, in the following game, the New Zealand team had two set points and on the first Routliffe ripped a cross-court backhand winner, which brought smiles to the faces of herself and Venus.
In the third game of the next set, Routliffe double-faulted at 15-40 and Siegemund and Roger-Vasselin were able to keep hold of that lead, with the Frenchman serving an ace on set point.
The match went to a super tiebreak and at the first change of ends, Siegemund and Roger-Vasselin were up 4-2. When they swapped again the lead was 7-5 and Routliffe put a volley into the net on the following point.
Venus attacked Siegemund's second serve to pull back one mini-break and he saved the first match point on his serve. But at 7-9 Routliffe had a tricky smash to play moving backwards and her ball was just a bit too deep.
Both Routliffe and Venus now prepare for Wimbledon along with potential lineups for Olympic selections which also could involve Marcus Daniell as well as Lulu Sun and Paige Hourigan.