Upbeat Birrell looks ahead to Australian Open

by Admin
January 3, 2025

Kimberly Birrell will turn her attention to the Australian Open, after a career-best Brisbane campaign ends in the quarterfinals.

Brisbane, Australia, 3 January 2025 | AAP

Kimberly Birrell will quickly move on from her bittersweet Brisbane International quarterfinal exit, determined to parlay her career-best form into an Australian Open berth.

Australia’s new No.1-ranked women was able to smile despite her Friday near miss, Anhelina Kalinina saving a match point to reach the semi-finals with a 4-6 6-1 7-5 win over Birrell.

The Gold Coast talent had surged to a new career-high of 99 in the live rankings after beating world No.8 Emma Navarro and then No.35 Anastasia Potapova on her way to the last eight.

She again played fearlessly at Pat Rafter Arena, a wicked cross-court forehand just missing at 30-30 to give Kalinina a match point.

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The ice-cold Ukrainian then pummelled an ace to end the Birrell resistance that had captured her home crowd’s attention all week.

Her joyful run came after elbow injuries five years ago stole almost three years from her career and forced Birrell, now 26, to rethink her tennis future as she dropped out of the world’s top 800.

“I’m super, super proud of the way that I’ve been playing and just backing myself,” she said.

“No matter who was down the other end, I trusted in my ability and the work that I put in in the off-season.

“I knew that my level was there. Now that I’ve really proven it, I think, yeah, so many positives.”

Outside the top-100 cut-off before the tournament and not among wildcard recipients for the 2025 edition, Birrell will regroup and head to Melbourne needing to qualify to play in the Australian Open main draw.

“I’m definitely going to keep riding the high I’ve been on this week and take it into Melbourne; it should be fun,” she said.

“You need to really prove on the match court that you can do it.

“I’m going to use that going into next week … all eyes on AO.”

Birrell seized a rare chance on Kalinina serve to pinch the first set before the Ukrainian blazed her way back into the contest in a one-sided second.

One step closer to the semis 💪 @kimbirrell98 takes first set 6-4 from Kalinina! pic.twitter.com/bGGtZ8Kc9e

— Brisbane International (@BrisbaneTennis) January 3, 2025

Two tough service holds to begin the decider for Birrell, who then applied serious pressure at 5-4 with Kalinina serving to stay in the match.

Birrell’s flat groundstrokes earned her a match point but Kalinina didn’t wilt, instead finding her way to 5-5 and then flipping the script to end the Birrell fairytale.

Kalinina will play either American bolter Ashlyn Krueger or tournament qualifier Polina Kudermetova for a spot in the final.

Injury ends Jordan Thompson’s campaign

Jordan Thompson, meanwhile, was forced to retire in his Brisbane International quarterfinal against Grigor Dimitrov due to injury.

Set to be seeded for the first time at a Slam at the Australian Open, the world No.26 received treatment to his right calf before pulling the pin, down 6-1 2-1 citing foot pain, to the defending champion.

Thompson enjoyed the best year of his career in 2024 and began in similar fashion this week, with fighting victories against Matteo Berrettini and Alex Michelsen to again reach the final eight in Brisbane.

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