Much of the crowd on day four in Brisbane was there to see Nick Kyrgios and Novak Djokovic in doubles action. However, it was the “warm-up act” Kimberly Birrell who stole the show with the biggest win of her career.
The Aussie wildcard was facing world No.8 Emma Navarro, a player ranked 105 places above her.
The Queensland local dug deep in a tense match of long rallies to outlast her opponent 7-5 7-5.
She had lost to Navarro comfortably three months prior and when asked what changed to get the result, she praised the capacity crowd.
“I think the biggest difference was that I had all of you guys on my side. Thank you so much,” Birrell said.
“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.”
This is just Birrell’s second Top-10 win of her career with the first also coming in Brisbane against Daria Kasatkina in 2019.
In 2023, she reached a career-high ranking of 100 and in 2024 made her first WTA Final in Osaka.
Her live ranking is 106 and another win could see her climb to a new career-best.
She next faces Russian Anastasia Potapova for a place in the quarter-finals.
Joint goes down fighting
Birrell is Australia’s lone female left in the draw after 18-year-old Maya Joint went down to Victoria Azarenka 6-7 6-2 6-4.
The former world No.1 praised the Aussie teenager after the match.
“If she continues to play like this she’s got a pretty good future ahead of her,” Azarenka said.
“She’s very aggressive, she moved really well, and she served well under pressure as well, so there are a lot of great things that she produced.”
Thompson keeps our men’s hopes alive
Eighth seed Jordan Thompson won through to the quarter-finals with a 7-5 6-3 over young American Alex Michelsen.
Although the scoreline looks routine, it was anything but.
Trailing 2-5 in the first set, Thompson saved three set points from 0-40 down to win five straight games and take the set.
He is the last Aussie man remaining and next faces Grigor Dimitrov in a rematch of last year’s semi-final.
Earlier in the day, Dimitrov defeated Australian Aleksandar Vukic 6-2 7-6 on Pat Rafter Arena.
Kyrgios and Djokovic rounded out the day session against top seeds Nicola Mektić and Michael Venus.
Venus had previously labelled Kyrgios “an absolute knob” after losing to him and Kokkinakis at the Australian Open in 2022.
Despite the history, the game was a friendly but competitive and entertaining affair.
The doubles prowess of Mektić and Venus saw them through 6-2 3-6 10-8.
Aussies in Day Five Action
Kimberly Birrell is back in action first up on Pat Rafter Arena against Potapova.
James Duckworth and Aleks Vukic are the last of the Aussies in the men’s doubles and they take on second seeds Heliovaara and Patten.
Priscilla Hon partners with Anna Kalinskaya to play top seeds Chan and Kichenok in the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles.
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