World No.3 Amanda Anisimova has kickstarted her Brisbane International debut in style, stifling home favourite Kimberly Birrell’s charge to reach the third round on Wednesday night.
A two-time major finalist in 2025, the American entered her second showdown against the 106th-ranked Queenslander at a career-high mark and with the added confidence to boot before a packed Pat Rafter Arena crowd.
The 24-year-old piled on the pressure from the outset and steadied following a momentary blip in the second set to advance 6-1 6-3.
“The first match of the year is always going to be tough so I was actually really pleased with the way I was playing and Kim was playing really great tennis, so it was a lot of fun,” Anisimova said. “It was good to have a little bit of a fight there and yeah, I’m just really excited to be through.”
Birrell was bidding to topple the Brisbane International’s No.2 seed for the second year in a row having stunned Emma Navarro en route to her maiden WTA 500 quarterfinal.
With so much pressure mounting from the pace and depth of her opponent’s blows off the ground, however, the 27-year-old was suffocated for time and struggled to work her way into points until the sixth game of the second set.
Buoyed on by her home crowd, Birrell pegged back the break to level but it was a momentary reprieve.
Anisimova finished with 20 winners to her opponent’s six and just 13 unforced errors in the 63-minute victory, which booked a clash against Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk.
“[Marta’s] a great athlete, a great player so I’m really looking forward to it,” she said. “I’m sure it’s going to be a physical and fun match.”
Medvedev puts on masterclass to oust Tiafoe, Lehecka out
Top seed Daniil Medvedev is already laying down an early marker as the man to beat at this year’s Brisbane International after sweeping past former world No.10 Frances Tiafoe on the back of a wildly successful day on serve on Wednesday.
On the heels of a convincing first-round outing against Marton Fucsovics, the 29-year-old put in a clinical hour of tennis, commanding every corner of the court in a 6-3 6-2 victory.
Reigning champion Jiri Lehecka was less fortunate, forced to retire with a right ankle injury while trailing 3-6 2-1 against American Sebastian Korda.
In the second match at Pat Rafter Arena, Medvedev’s 21 winners – including nine aces – were almost double his opponent’s. He claimed 91 per cent of first-serve points and never faced a break point.
It left plenty to be content with in Team Medvedev ahead of a quarterfinal clash against either big-serving Reilly Opelka or lucky loser Kamil Majchrzak.
“The court is pretty fast, so you need to serve well and I’m happy with how I served,” Medvedev said. “I feel like it was better than the first round. From the first point it puts a lot of pressure on your opponent, got a couple of good games on his serve. It was enough today, that’s how tennis is sometimes.”
Lehecka’s injury retirement pitted Korda into the quarterfinals for an all-American clash against Alex Michelsen, an earlier winner of eighth seed Learner Tien.
Pegula prevails to reach third round on debut
In the opening match at Pat Rafter Arena on Wednesday, fourth seed Jessica Pegula had every reason to expect she’d be in it for the long haul when she took the court against Anna Kalinskaya.
All four of the pair’s previous meetings had gone the distance and their fifth proved no different. Pegula improved the head-to-head to 4-1 after she twice rebounded from a break down in the deciding set 6-2 2-6 6-4.
“I can’t believe played Anna first match of the year. We’ve had so many long intense crazy matches last year, so it was a real test for me today, especially having a bye the first round, not having any matches under me,” Pegula said.
“I knew it was going to be tough, she’s such a great player. She can really take the racquet out of your hand, change the direction of the ball so well, so I kind of figured out just in time and competed really well, maybe got a little lucky here and there too.
“We actually practised with each other before the draw came out and when we saw it we were like ‘man, here we go again’ because it’s always such a battle. I always appreciate those tough matches win or lose – obviously it’s preferable to win – and to come out on top in a tough match. Hopefully I can use that as some momentum this week.”
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