Tide Alumni Crowned Citi Open Doubles Champ
Former Alabama tennis player Erin Routliffe and her partner Jessica Pegula won consecutive matches Saturday at the Citi Open in Washington D.C. to clinch the doubles title.
Routliffe and Pegula got ahead early in their finals bout versus Anna Kalinskaya and Catherine McNally with a 6-3 first-set win. Following a close 7-5 loss in the second set, the pair went to a third-set tiebreaker which they would win 12-10 to take the match and earn the doubles title.
Routliffe and Pegula earned their spot in the final after emerging victorious in three matches over the course of the week. The two began the tournament with a straight set victory (6-4, 6-1) over Sabrina Santamaria and Heather Watson in the opening round followed by a three-set win of 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (9) against Xiyu Wang and Yue Yuan in the quarterfinals. Routliffe and Pegula were leading 6-0, 5-2 in the semifinals before taking the win off of a walkover against Lucie Hradecka and Monica Niculescu.
Routliffe competed at the University of Alabama from 2013-2017 with a career record of 84-42 in singles and 75-37 in doubles.
According to the Women's Tennis Association website, the New Zealand native is currently the 33rd ranked professional women's doubles player in the world.
Her victory in D.C. brings her career doubles record to 186-116 with two doubles titles.
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