By Dave Worsley*
Michael Venus Photo: Photosport
New Zealand duo of Erin Routliffe and Michael Venus have exited the mixed doubles of the Australian Open after going down in the semi-finals.
The second seeded pair were beaten by Australian wildcards Olivia Gadecki and John Peers 6-4 6-4 on Margaret Court Arena in cool and blustery condition with the crowd supporting both sides.
There were only a couple of stray points in each set which cost Routliffe and Venus, who reached the same stage at Wimbledon last year as well.
Venus was broken in the ninth game on the first set after a long and hard-hit rally as a reaction volley was hit into the net by Routliffe.
In the second set, Peers again stepped up for the Australians and dominated where he could.
New Zealand tennis player Erin Routliffe. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
World No.2 Routliffe dropped her serve in the third game as Peers put on the pressure with a deep groundstroke at her feet and from then on, the games went with the serve.
Peers eventually served out the match with an ace down the middle of the forehand side to old teammate Venus to wrap up the match.
Routliffe and Canadian Gaby Dabrowski will play their women's doubles semi-final tomorrow (Thursday 23 January) against the unorthodox third-seed pairing of Su-Wei Hsieh (Taipei) and Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia).
Routliffe and Venus were edefeted in straight sets. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
*Tennis journalist Dave Worsley has been covering the Australian Open and is an RNZ contributor.
