World No 283 Birrell stuns World No Kasatkina in Brisbane International

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Patna :  World No 283 in WTA rankings Kimberly Birrell, 20, Australia, stunned World No 10 Daria Kasatkina, 21, Russia, in a three-set thriller 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 in the first round of women’s section of Brisbane International tennis tournament at Queensland, Australia, December 31, 2018.

Kasatkina though fired 8 Aces in the match to just 2 by Birrell. Kasatkina, however, committed 10 double faults during the match to 7 by Birrell. Both the players won 5 break points each. Both of them also won 3 games each in a row in the match.

But, World No 8 Karolina Pliskova, 26, Czech Republic, entered the Round of 16 defeating World No 44 Yulia Antonovna Putintseva, 23, Kazakhstan,  in three-sets 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round. Pliskova hammered 11 Aces in the match t4 by Putintseva. Both the players committed 2 double faults each. Pliskova won 4 break points to 3 by Putintseva. Pliskova though won 7 games in a row to 4 by Putintseva.

World No 27 Lesia Tsurenko, 29, Ukraine, beat World No 24 Mihaela Buzarnescu, 30, Romania, 6-0, 6-2 to enter the Round of 16. Tsurenko won 6 games in a row during the match besides winning 5 break points. Buzarnescu holds a Ph.D degree in sports science.

World No 20 Anett Kontaveit, 23, Estonia, beat World No 23 Carla Suarez Navaro, 30, Spain, 6-0, 6-3 to enter the Round of 16. World No 9 Kiki Bertens, Netherlands, beat World No 12 Elise Mertens, Belgium, in a tough three-set encounter  6-2, 6-7, 6-4 to enter the round of 16.