AAP Tennis

Kimberly Birrell through to WTA semis in Texas

By AAP Newswire

Feb 28, 2026

Kimberly Birrell is through to the semi-finals of the ATX Open in Texas after emerging from her shootout with fellow Australian Ajla Tomljanovic.

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The 27-year-old emerged victorious after one hour and 24 minutes, winning 6-3 6-3 as she goes in pursuit of her first WTA 250 title.

Birrell converted five of her eight break point opportunities while the more experienced Tomjlanovic succeeded just twice after creating eight chances.

The Gold Coast resident, who was born in Duesseldorf in Germany, struggled with her serve. She sent down three aces, but also double faulted eight times which kept the more experienced Tomjlanovic in the match.

The defeat brought to an end an exciting run for the 32-year-old Tomjlanovic, who beat eliminated veteran Venus Williams 6-4 6-1 and upset No.2 seed Iva Jovic 4-6 6-4 6-4 en route to the last eight.

World No.80 Birrell will now meet the winner of No.4 seed Peyton Stearns and Oksana Selekkhmeteva for a place in the final.

At the WTA 500 tournament in Merida, top-seed Jasmine Paolini proved too strong for Australian hopeful Priscilla Hon in the last 16.

The world No.7 beat Hon 6-0 6-2.