Kimberly Birrell will vie for a maiden WTA 500 quarterfinal in her own backyard after springing the biggest upset of her career over second seed Emma Navarro at the Brisbane International on Wednesday.
Buoyed on by her home crowd at Pat Rafter Arena, the 113th-ranked wildcard avenged a Hong Kong defeat from October to the US Open semifinalist 7-5 7-5.
It was just her second career top-10 win after denying then-No.10 Daria Kasatkina in the opening round at the Queensland Tennis Centre in 2019.
Hometown HERO 🥺🇦🇺@kimbirrell98 scores back-to-back wins for the first time at a WTA 500 event with a huge upset over Navarro.#BrisbaneTennis pic.twitter.com/aNbQZpL2Tr
— Brisbane International (@BrisbaneTennis) January 1, 2025
“I think the biggest difference was that I had all of you guys on my side. Thank you so much,” Birrell said of squaring her head-to-head with the American.
“I’ve spent so many hours on this court since I was little. I watched the Brisbane International when I was a kid and to get to play here and have the tournament that’s basically at home is so special.
“I get to play in front of my family and my friends and it’s not very often that my players’ box is completely full, so yeah, I’m so, so happy.”
While the 26-year-old moved and swung fearlessly, her path to victory was anything but routine.
In both sets she broke to serve for it at 5-4 and on both occasions was unable to close it out at the first time of asking before steadying the ship on her second attempt.
“Obviously, a little bit of frustration because you do kind of like all the hard work, and then to get broken back right away, you know how they say, it’s not a break until you hold,” she said.
“But, yeah, I just tried to not think too much about it. I think my serve, although it’s improving, it hasn’t really been one of my strengths in my game, and I think that my return is one of my strengths.
“So I kind of just put that previous game the back of my mind and move on, and great, now I get to return, I feel comfortable, I know what I need to do.”
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The win marked a full-circle moment for the Queenslander after a serious elbow injury led to an extended time out of competition only six months after her win over Kasatkina in Brisbane six years ago.
“Obviously didn’t expect to be out injured for so long … There were definitely periods where I didn’t know if I was going to get back on court let alone at the level I played today,” she said. “So I’m really glad that I persevered and so lucky to have amazing friends and family that helped me during that period to get back to where I am today.”
Victory set a third-round clash with Anastasia Potapova, a straight-sets winner over last year’s Australian Open semifinalist Dayana Yastremska.
Third seed Kasatkina survived a near-three-and-a-half-hour clash with American Peyton Stearns 7-6(7) 4-6 7-5 to set a third-round meeting with 21-year-old Polina Kudermetova, a three-set winner over 13th seed Liudmila Samsonova.
What a performance!@vika7 gets it done, coming from a set down to defeat Maya Joint 6-7(5) 6-2 6-4
The two-time Australian Open champion will face Marie Bouzkova in the round of 16.#BrisbaneTennis pic.twitter.com/boj1EIgNLb
— Brisbane International (@BrisbaneTennis) January 1, 2025
Azarenka fends off spirited Joint challenge
Two-time Brisbane champion Victoria Azarenka posted her first win of the new year but not without a struggle against inspired Australian wildcard Maya Joint.
Azarenka, a semifinalist last year, had not played since September due to injury and in her first match back was forced to pull out all stops to keep the free-swinging 18-year-old at bay.
“I was so nervous before the match because I felt like everybody had already played and I hadn’t played my match,” Azarenka said. “She already had a match under her belt. I felt there was a bit of rust trying to figure out after not playing for so much, getting into again, learning the momentums and what to do again in the right moments.
“I thought I fought really well today. I tried to execute my game, not everything worked but that’s okay. I hope to improve for the next match.”
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Azarenka trailed 2-4 in the first set and saved three set points on serve at 5-6 in the opening set and needed five set points of her own in the tiebreak to snatch the advantage.
Down a break at 3-4 in the deciding set, she strung together the last three games of the match to set a third-round meeting with Czech Marie Bouzkova.
“If [Maya] plays like she plays tonight I think she has a pretty good future,” Azarenka said. “I need to have a few words with my coach because I’m not sure he gave me the best tactic at the beginning or maybe she just played very differently than what we watched [from] the first match.
“She’s a great player, a great talent, obviously very young.”