Tennis: Kiwi Erin Routliffe notches up first WTA Tour win

Erin Routliffe. Photo / Photosport

New Zealand's Erin Routliffe has won her first WTA tour main draw match to reach the second round of the doubles at the Citi Open in Washington DC.

The 23-year-old and her Chilean partner Alexa Guarachi have beaten Britain's Harriet Dart and India's Prarthana Thombare 7-6 (3) 7-5 in 1 hr 37 in the first round.

Routliffe who was born in New Zealand but grew up in Canada, switched allegiances to New Zealand last year and played for the New Zealand Fed Cup team in February.

She has rocketed up more than 200 ranking places to 114 after starting the year ranked 339. She played her first Grand Slam under the New Zealand flag at Wimbledon last month.

Meanwhile, Kiwi Artem Sitak and his Indian partner Divij Sharan have advanced to the quarter finals in the men's draw in Washington.

Having won a qualifying match to make the main draw of the ATP 500 tournament, Sitak and Sharan who reached the Wimbledon quarter finals last month, have beaten Indian legend Leander Paes and American Jamie Cerretani 7-6 (2) 3-6 10-7 in 1 hr 34.

They will next face the 4th seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares for a place in the semis.

Michael Venus and his South African partner Raven Klaasen play their first match since losing the Wimbledon final last month against American Rajeev Ram and Dutchman Jean-Julien Rojer in the first round in Washington tonight.

Marcus Daniell and his Dutch partner Wesley Koolhof have suffered a first round defeat at the ATP 250 tournament in Kitzbuhel in Austria.

Daniell and Koolhof have been beaten 7-6 (4) 6-4 in 1 hr 34 by the German Austrian duo of Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner.

It's the second time in the last few weeks that Daniell and Koolhof have lost to the pair following a quarter final defeat at the Swedish Open.

Daniell and Koolhof certainly had their chances and were they only team to force a break point in the first set, but couldn't convert and lost the tiebreaker.

In stark contrast there were five service breaks in the second set with Petzschner and Melzer able to convert three of their eight chances and Daniell and Koolhof two of their three opportunities.

It's a disappointing result for the Kiwi-Dutch combination who won 66 points to their opponents' 63.

They will now head to the United States to begin their preparations for the US Open which starts at the end of the month.

Meanwhile, 21-year-old Kiwi Paige Hourigan has qualified for the main draw at the ITF US $25,000 tournament in Fort Worth Texas.

Hourigan has beaten Mexican Jessica Hinojosa Gomez 6-4 6-1 in 1 hour 32 and converted all six of her break point chances.​