The Australian Kimberly Birrell, beneficiary of a wild card, created a surprise by eliminating the American Emma Navarro on Wednesday in the second round of the WTA 500 tournament in Brisbane.
In the men's draw, defending champion Grigor Dimitrov easily dismissed another Australian player invited by the organizers, Aleksandar Vukic, 6-2, 7-6 (7/5). The Bulgarian, world No.10, also won in Brisbane in 2017 and lost a final there in 2012, against the British Andy Murray, now retired. On the Pat Rafter Arena, Birrell, 113th in the WTA rankings, won 7-5, 7-5 in front of the 8th in the world. Navarro is coming off a very successful 2024 season, notably reaching the semi-final at the US Open, and the obstacle represented by the 26-year-old Australian, who has never managed to enter the Top 100 since her debut on the circuit ten years ago, did not seem likely to pose any problems for him. But Birrell was able to draw on the support of the local public and was not intimidated by the pedigree of her opponent. “I think it's kind of like one of those situations where you don't have a choice, you just have to go for it,” she explained.
«That's kind of the attitude I had today. I think that was very beneficial to me, as well as the fact of having played a lot of hours on this field.underlined Birrell. In the next round, she will face Russian Anastasia Potapova, 35th in the world.
