Brisbane Open: Aussie wildcard Birrell moves into quarter-finals
The Australian will face the winner of the match between Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina and Chinese Yue Yuan in the next round
Australian wildcard Kimberly Birrell reached the last eight of the Brisbane Open by beating Russian Anastasia Potapova 7-6 (2), 6-2 at the Queensland Tennis Centre on Thursday.
Birrell, ranked No 113, will face the winner of the match between Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina and Chinese Yue Yuan next. This is the first time that she has advanced to the last eight of a WTA 500 event.
The Australian beat qualifier Priscilla Hon (3-6, 7-5, 6-2) and Emma Navarro, the second seed (7-5, 7-5) ahead of her win today.
Earlier in the week Potapova, ranked No 35, benefited from the retirement of Romanian qualifier Ana Bogdan (2-6, 6-4, 2-0) and beat Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska, the No 16 seed (7-5, 6-4).
Brisbane WTA 500, other round of 16 results (Queensland Tennis Centre, hard, USD 1,520,600)
- Aryna Sabalenka vs. Yulia Putintseva
- Victoria Azarenka vs. Marie Bouzkova
- Elina Avanesyan vs. Ons Jabeur
- Linda Noskova vs. Mirra Andreeva
- Anhelina Kalinina vs. Yue Yuan
- Polina Kudermetova vs. Daria Kasatkina
- Ashlyn Krueger vs. Suzan Lamens