Former Alabama Women’s Tennis Duo Takes Home ITF Women’s Circuit Title in Canada
11/7/2017 3:06:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Alexa Guarachi (Chile) and Erin Routliffe (New Zealand) down four teams en route to tournament title
TORONTO, Canada – Former Alabama women's tennis All-Americans Alexa Guarachi (Chile) and Erin Routliffe (New Zealand) teamed up to play in the doubles main draw in the $60,000 ITF Women's Circuit Tournament in Toronto, Canada, Oct. 30 to Nov. 5. The pair reached the final round where they downed Ysaline Bonaventure (Belgium) and Victoria Rodriguez (Mexico) in three sets to claim the tournament title.
In round one, the duo defeated home-crowd favorites Bianca Andreescu and Carol Zhao of Canada in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, before topping Nika Kukharchuk (Russia) and Leonie Kung (Switzerland) in the quarterfinal round, 7-5, 6-2. The former Tide players then took down Maria Sanchez (United States) and the No. 125 doubles player in the world Valeria Savinykh (Russia) in the semifinals, 2-6, 6-3, 10-6, to secure a spot in the final round.
In the championship match, Guarachi and Routliffe battled against Bonaventure and Rodriguez, and came out on top after three sets. The duo edged out Bonaventure and Rodriguez, 7-6(4), in set one, but fell in set two, 6-3. With the prize money on the line, the former Alabama standouts pulled out the victory, winning 10-4 in set three.
After the tournament win in Canada, Guarachi climbed up 24 spots in the WTN doubles rankings to No. 151, after competing in 23 tournaments and accumulating 482 points. After competing in seven tournament in her career, Routliffe surged up 151 spots in the WTN standings and has totaled 169 points.
During their time at Alabama, Guarachi and Routliffe both earned multiple All-American and All-SEC honors. One of the most successful doubles players in Alabama history, Routliffe won back-to-back NCAA Doubles Championships (2014 and 2015) and finished as the runner-up in last year's doubles championship match. Guarachi ended her career at the Capstone with 109 victories in singles, which is the most singles wins ever recorded by a player in Alabama history, and wrapped up her doubles campaign with teammate Courtney McLane with 69 wins, which tops the Tide's all-time doubles list.
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