Australian wild card Kimberly Birrell‘s long road to Show Court 1 in Brisbane meant she was never going to throw it in when a win against world No.10 Daria Kasatkina appeared to be slipping away.
Playing before a packed Show Court 1 and watched on by the likes of her compatriots Lleyton Hewitt, Jordan Thompson and Priscilla Hon, the 20-year-old wild card fought back from 3-5 down in the third set to post her first win over a top-10 opponent, 5-7 6-4 7-6(5), after three hours and eight minutes.
“I was just telling myself to just keep fighting and keep asking the questions, because I knew she was going to ask the question every single point,” Birrell said.
“I was just telling myself ‘it’s not over, it’s not over’ and it wasn’t.”
Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!
Upstarts Kimberly Birrell, Destanee Aiava jolt the women’s draw on Day 1 of #BrisbaneTennis https://t.co/ZKuXs6M7K6 pic.twitter.com/H7Hn6gBgNB
— #BrisbaneTennis (@BrisbaneTennis) December 31, 2018
Moments before Birrell’s breakthrough, fellow Aussie Destanee Aiava continued her love affair with the Brisbane International as she took down former top-tenner Kristina Mladenovic 6-4 7-6(3) on Show Court 2.
Wild card Hon was unable to make it three from three for the Aussie women, falling late to Brit Harriet Dart, 1-6 6-3 6-4.
Aiava made a stunning debut two years ago, winning through qualifying before falling to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round.
The 18-year-old will meet second seed Naomi Osaka in the second round.
“I think the key was probably staying mentally strong and probably fitness as well,” Aiava said.
“I had a massive pre-season back home in Sydney. So I think that helped a lot, and I just tried to stay with her mentally and eventually got there in the end.”
Destanee Aiava on taking on the US Open champ in the 2R: “This past week I’ve been mistaken for Naomi (Osaka) about 4 times, so we’ll see if they can tell us apart (when we play). … I’m looking forward to the experience.” 😉#BrisbaneTennis pic.twitter.com/odVNcCTG7A
— #BrisbaneTennis (@BrisbaneTennis) December 31, 2018
Birrell had tennis in her blood, with her dad a coach on the Gold Coast and her mother’s family having grown up playing the sport.
“On my mum’s side my grandparents played, and my grandpa built a tennis court for my mum and my mum’s sister at their farm,” Birrell said.
“So we always joke around that it’s kind of in my DNA. In saying that, though, they never forced [tennis] on my brother and I.
“We [Birrell and her brother] both fell in love with tennis and I’m very lucky to share a passion with my parents and we have an awesome relationship.
“We dream about moments like this.”
Birrell had won the Australian Open wildcard playoff final earlier this month to secure a spot at January’s Grand Slam and maintained that form against the highly fancied Russian on Monday.
Dropping an early break in the third set and then losing her serve at 3-4 wasn’t enough to deter the Queenslander, who unleashed a series of crushing backhands to break twice herself and serve for the match at 6-5 on the same court she had trained on countless times.
Birrell was broken again, but played a fearless tie-break to claim the biggest scalp of her career in a battle that lasted three hours and eight minutes.
Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko had an easier time of it in her first-round clash with Mihaela Buzarnescu, prevailing 6-0 6-2. She will play Birrell in the second round.