Ninth-seed Kimberly Birrell survived a stern test to qualify for the Australian Open main draw in a tough three-set contest, winning 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-4 against Russia's Oksana Selekhmeteva.
Birrell won the first set in commanding fashion, breaking twice and dominating from the inside of the court.
She continued with the momentum and charged into the second set with a 3-1 lead. However, Selekhmeteva brought it back to 3-3, breaking Birrell to get the match back on serve.
Selekhmeteva powered forward with consistency, forcing errors from Birrell to take the second set in a tense tiebreak.
The third set was neck and neck until 3-3, with both players securing one break of serve each. Birrell then used aggressive play from the forehand side to break free and edge closer to victory by securing the next two games to lead 5-3.
Birrell then fired two winners and won the last four points of the match, breaking to love no less, to earn her spot in the round of 128.
It wasn't great news for the last remaining Aussies in qualifying action, with Sixth-seed Russian Polina Kudermetova winning a close affair against Australia’s Elena Micic 6-4, 7-5.
Micic trailed 2-5 in the first set before fighting back to 5-4, but the Russian broke the Aussie’s serve to secure the first set, 6-4.
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The Australian wildcard again fought back from a 2-5 deficit in the second set to equalise at 5 5, but Kudermetova’s aggression proved too strong, taking the final two games of the match to secure a main draw ticket.
Germany’s first seed Dominik Koepfer took out Aussie Blake Ellis in a close 7-5, 7-5 battle.
Only one break made the difference in the first set, with the German breaking Ellis in the 11th game and then holding his own serve to run away with the set.
After both players broke each other early in the second set, Koepfer broke the Aussie’s serve in the 11th game again to secure a 6-5 lead. He then consolidated convincingly to close out the match.
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