BIRRELL’S AUS OPEN BID ENDS
KIM Birrell’s Australian Open qualifying bid has fallen at the final hurdle, the Queenslander losing in straight sets to British 11th seed Harriet Dart on Friday.
Birrell looked poised to mount a fightback when she went a break up in the second set, but Dart reeled off five of the last six games to clinch a 6-3 6-3 victory and main draw berth at Melbourne Park.
The Australian Fed Cup representative won consecutive matches this week in a reminder of her promise after a torrid 30 months with a right elbow injury that twice required surgery.
She had played only six times since the 2019 edition of Wimbledon – all last February – until her matches in Melbourne this week and last.
Birrell continues to wear extensive strapping around her elbow but avoided an operation last year when she again had to take time off the tour.
The 23-year-old was typically aggressive from the baseline against Dart, but the difference on Friday to her earlier matches was the number of unforced errors that flowed from her racquet.
Birrell made four such errors in a row, including a double fault, to concede the opening set from 40-15.
She also didn’t capitalise as much as she probably could have on Dart’s second serve, which came down at an average of only 112km/h – and often slower.
What Dart did do well was make an impact on her first serve, hitting four of her six aces as she surged from behind in the second set to eliminate Birrell.
Birrell barely won 40 per cent of her own points on first and second serves and conceded a break seven out of the nine times she had the ball in hand.
That constant pressure made life difficult for the Australian.
Veteran West Australian Matt Ebden is the last local qualifying hope, with his match against Slovakian second seed Norbert Gombos set to be played late on Friday afternoon.
Bernard Tomic (2021), Max Purcell (2020) and Thanasi Kokkinakis (2019) ensured an Australian man qualified at the past three Australian Opens.