{"id":817635,"date":"2026-10-29T14:14:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T14:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/817635\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T14:14:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T14:14:18","slug":"aussie-aces-title-hopes-dashed-with-tokyo-thumping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/817635\/","title":{"rendered":"Aussie ace’s title hopes dashed with Tokyo thumping"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kim Birrell’s run at the WTA event in Tokyo has come to a screeching halt. (Darren England\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Kim Birrell’s hopes of claiming a second WTA title in Asia have been dashed, with the Australian copping a round-of-16 hammering in Tokyo.<\/p>\n

Birrell, who secured her place in the WTA 500 Pan Pacific Open as a lucky loser, proved no match for Alycia Parks on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The American qualifier, ranked No.65 in the world, romped to a 6-3 6-1 victory to book her place in the quarter-finals, where she will meet Mia Pohankova.<\/p>\n

The Slovak wildcard, who turned 18 a week ago, scored a stunning 6-3 7-5 win over four-time grand slam winner, and local favourite, Naomi Osaka.<\/p>\n

The win secured Pohankova, the 2025 junior singles champion at Wimbledon, her biggest win and a first last-eight place on tour.<\/p>\n

“I believe (in myself) all the time, and yes, it’s a really good match against her,” Pohankova, who was ranked 659th this time last year, said.<\/p>\n

“She’s a really good player and I’m just proud of myself. I’m really happy and I hope it’s just the start of my career.”<\/p>\n

In the final match of the day between two players born in Russia but representing Kazakhstan, victory went the way of Elena Rybakina.<\/p>\n

The top seed beat Yulina Putintseva 6-2 6-3 and will next face Canadian Leylah Fernandez, a 6-2 7-6 (10-8) winner over fifth seed Elise Mertens of Belgium.<\/p>\n

\"Kim
\n Kim Birrell was on the back foot for most of her contest in the Japanese capital. (AP PHOTO)<\/p>\n

World No.41 Birrell had trouble holding her serve against Parks, the Australian broken five times, while only able to convert one of just two break opportunities she had.<\/p>\n

It was a huge disappointment for Birrell, who claimed her first WTA title with a 6-4 6-2 over compatriot Maya Joint in the final of the Korea Open last month.<\/p>\n

While Birrell’s run in Tokyo has ended, Joint remains in contention after she beat Spain’s Cristina Bucsa on Wednesday to secure her place in the quarters.<\/p>\n

Quarterfinals bound \u2705 Alycia Parks defeats Birrell 6-3, 6-1 to advance in Tokyo! #torayppo https:\/\/t.co\/tv9DoRQtu3<\/p>\n

\u2014 wta (@WTA) October 29, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

A day after ousting sixth seed Sorana Cirstea, the Australian’s gutsy 6-1 2-6 6-4 over Bucsa set up a clash with Uzbekistan’s Kamilla Rakhimova.<\/p>\n

Ranked No.66, Rakhimova advanced with a marathon 6-4 4-6 7-6 (7-5) win over Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova.<\/p>\n

Another Australian, Talia Gibson, also had a decent tournament, making her way to the round of 16.<\/p>\n

Australia’s highest-ranked woman at No.38, Gibson put up a courageous fight before losing in three sets to eighth-seeded Alexandra Eala, of the Philippines.<\/p>\n

License this article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kim Birrell’s run at the WTA event in Tokyo has come to a screeching halt. (Darren England\/AAP PHOTOS)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":817636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[78134,78135,428,78136,390,15580,19357,50,19356,4500,17085,101,118,4902,56,54,55,231],"class_list":["post-817635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-aap","tag-aapnews","tag-australia","tag-australian-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-daily-news","tag-global-news","tag-news","tag-news-app","tag-news-headlines","tag-news-today","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-today-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}