Kiwi Erin Routliffe is on the verge of making New Zealand tennis history after reaching the women's doubles final at the US Open in New York.
Auckland-based Routliffe and Canadian partner Gabriella Dabrowski emerged surprise semi-final winners on Saturday morning, beating fancied pair Hsieh Su-Wei and Wang Xinyu 6-1 7-6 (4).
Playing just their fourth tournament together, the 16th-seeded pair held their nerve to set up a final against either the 12th-seeded German pair of Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva or the unseeded combination of American Jennifer Brady and Brazilian Luisa Stefani.
It is comfortably the biggest career achievement for Routliffe, who studied at the University of Alabama and reached a career-high doubles ranking of 29th last year, when she reached the doubles quarter-finals at Wimbledon alongside Pole Alicja Rosolska.
She can become the second New Zealander to claim a women's doubles grand slam, emulating Judy Connor, who was victorious at the 1979 Australian Open.
Dabrowski advances to her second career women's doubles final, having also contested two mixed doubles finals.
