Birrell falls at first French hurdle
RISING Gold Coast tennis star Kimberly Birrell, Arina Rodionova and Jason Kubler have been eliminated in French Open qualifying, ending the Australian hunt for main draw spots at Roland Garros.
Former world junior No.1 Kubler lost his second-round qualifier 6-1, 7-6 (11-9) to Serb Viktor Troicki in an hour and 28 minutes.
World No.256 Troicki overpowered the Queenslander, who is battling back from injuries.
In the women’s qualifiers, Birrell and Rodionova both stumbled at the first hurdle.
World No.158 Birrell made a sluggish start but forced a third set before falling 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 to Greece’s Valentini Grammatikopoulou, ranked 35 spots below the Australian.
Rodionova struggled throughout, dropping serve six times in a 7-5, 6-1 loss to Switzerland’s Conny Perrin.
Ashleigh Barty, Daria Gavrilova, Ajla Tomljanovic, Samantha Stosur and Astra Sharma will fly the flag in the main women’s draw.
Alex de Minaur will be Australia’s top seed in the main men’s draw, joining Nick Kyrgios, John Millman, Matt Ebden, Jordan Thompson, Bernard Tomic and wildcard recipient Alexei Popyrin.