It’s not the start Australia’s Kimberly Birrell wanted to make against Anastasia Potapova.
Birrell dropped her opening service game and trails 0-2 against the Russian.
Potapova, ranked 35 in the world, is generating significant power from her forehand at the baseline, forcing Birrell to play defence.
Madison Keys seems to be in a hurry to get off the court across the Tasman.
The top seed won the first set against Jaqueline Cristian 6-1.
The winner of this match will play Danish fifth seed Clara Tauson in the quarterfinals.
In a late-finishing match in the Wednesday night session, Australia’s Jordan Thompson overcame a slow start to defeat Alex Michelsen 7-5, 6-3 and reach the quarterfinals.
Thompson will play Bulgarian defending champion Grigor Dimitrov in the last eight.
It’s quarterfinal day in the national capital, with Australia’s Taylah Preston on court warming up for her match with Alexandra Eala of the Philippines.
We’ll keep you updated with the progress of that match.
Meanwhile, number one seed Nuria Parrizas Diaz of Spain is through to the semifinals via a 6-3, 6-3 win over Russian Oksana Selekhmeteva.
Top-seeded American Madison Keys is on court for her Auckland round-of-16 clash against Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian.
Keys has an early service break and leads the unseeded Cristian 3-1.
We’re not far away from Kimberly Birrell taking to Pat Rafter Arena for her round-of-16 match against Anastasia Potapova.
The Aussie provided one of the upsets of the tournament on New Year’s Day when she defeated second second Emma Navarro in straight sets.
We’ll keep you across the Birrell-Potapova once it’s underway.
G’day and thanks for joining ABC Sport’s digital coverage of the summer of tennis as we get ready for the Australian Open.
It’s another bumper day and we’ll keep you across the following tournaments:
We hope you can stick with us throughout the day and evening!
A professional tennis player received a frightening message from a sports bettor who threatened to go after him if he didn’t win a recent match at the Thionv
Emma Raducanu has revealed she “couldn’t see the ball through tears” and could “barely breathe” during a stalking ordeal at the Dubai Open last month.
The man approached Raducanu near the player hotel in Dubai the day before her second round match with Karolina Muchova.He gave her a letter and took her photo,
Australian Open champioon Madison Keys fields questions from the media prior to the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells (MATTHEW STOCKMAN)Madison Keys says staying
