Kim Birrell is hitting uncharted territory as a potential new flagbearer for Australian women’s tennis as she pulled off a fabulous comeback triumph to reach the quarter-finals of the Singapore Open.
Currently ranked No.95 in the world — the only Aussie woman in the game’s top-100 — Birrell is guaranteed to soar to a career-high ranking next week of at least 85 next week and could rise to as high as the top-60 if she was to land her first WTA tournament triumph.
Birrrell, who reached her first WTA final in Osaka last October at the Japan Open and started 2025 just as impressively by beating world No.8 Emma Navarro en route to the Brisbane International quarters, found herself 5-2 down in the last set of her last-16 clash with American Hailey Baptiste at Kallang Tennis Hub on Thursday.
But the 26-year-old battled back to reel off the next five games against world No.93 Baptiste and triumph 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 7-5 in nearly three hours to set up a last-eight meeting with another US player, Ann Li, who’s already knocked out one Australian, Daria Saville, this week.
The win typified the fighting spirit of Birrell, who over a three-year spell between 2019 and 2022 felt that constant surgery on her injured right elbow might simply derail her career.
“I’m so happy that I’ve been able to come through the other end and it feels like it’s way behind me now. I never want to forget what I’ve gone through, it makes me enjoy playing so much more,” she told The Straits Times after the match.
“It makes me enjoy the battle like today and appreciate those moments where you get through tough matches because I went through a period when I wasn’t sure if I was even going to get back on court to experience moments like these.”
Birrell, who also made the final of the Australian Open mixed doubles with John-Patrick Smith, has big ambitions.
“I don’t want to limit myself to that ranking,” said the Gold Coast player. “I want to have bigger goals to be well inside the top 100 and feel comfortable there and cement myself at that high enough ranking to be playing big tournaments every week.”
But Birrell’s compatriots, Maya Joint and Olivia Gadecki, couldn’t advance beyond the last-16, though.
The immensely promising 18-year-old Joint was beaten 6-4 6-2 by China’s Wang Xinyu while Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann defeated Olivia Gadecki 6-4 6-4.
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