Kimberly Birrell

Personal life

Birrell was born in Düsseldorf, Germany, on 29 April 1998 to Australian parents. Her father, John, was working as a tennis coach in Germany at the time of her birth and shortly after relocated his family to Wodonga, Victoria. The family then settled on the Gold Coast, Queensland when John took up a role as the head coach of Pat Cash's Tennis Academy. Kimberly began playing tennis at the age of four and switched training bases to the Queens Park Tennis Centre in 2008 when her father began managing the club. Queens Park had previously produced tennis professionals such as Samantha Stosur and Bernard Tomic. Birrell attended Coomera Anglican College during her schooling years and graduated in 2015.

Junior career

Birrell began playing junior ITF under 18 events in July 2011 as a 13-year-old. She reached her first junior ITF final a year later in Sydney and came out victorious over Pamela Boyanov in three sets. Following a strong 2012 season, she made her junior grand slam debut at the 2013 Australian Open at 14 years of age and was beaten by Sweden's Rebecca Peterson in straight sets. She continued to improve her junior ranking throughout 2013 by reaching two finals.

She entered the 2014 Australian Open unseeded and caused several upsets on her way to the semifinals. In the semifinals, at 15 years of age, she was defeated by Croat Jana Fett who two years her senior. She went on to compete in all the remaining grand slams throughout 2014 and reached her highest junior ranking of 18 in the world. Birrell competed in three junior grand slams in 2015 but mostly focused on the professional women's tour.

Professional career

Birrell competed in her first professional event at the Bendigo Tennis Centre in October 2012 at the age of 14. She gained her first professional ranking point a year later with a straight sets win over Elizabeth James after receiving a wildcard into the main draw of a tournament held in her home state of Queensland. She finished 2013 with a professional singles ranking of 847.

2014

Birrell was awarded a wild card into the doubles main draw of the 2014 Hobart International with compatriot Olivia Tjandramulia, where they lost in the first round to second seeds Lisa Raymond and Zhang Shuai.

In November, Birrell was given wild cards to the two Bendigo Women's International tournaments. In her debut at a $50,000 ITF event, she defeated world number 351 Veronika Kapshay in straight sets.

2015

In 2015, Birrell was awarded a qualifying wild card into the 2015 Hobart International, but lost to Vitalia Diatchenko in straight sets. She was then given a wild card for the 2015 Australian Open qualifying event, where she fell to Kateryna Bondarenko in three sets. She also made her Grand Slam main draw debut by getting one of seven team wildcards in women's doubles alongside Priscilla Hon, but lost to the fifth seeds Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears.

In March, Birrell qualified for and made the first ITF final of her career in Mildura, but lost to compatriot Alison Bai 3-6, 3-6. Birrell didn't play between April-September, but returned to Australia to play in Tweed Heads, Cairns, Toowoomba, Brisbane and Canberra. Her best results were a final in Brisbane and semi-final in Canberra. She finished the year with a ranking of 361.

2016: WTA Tour debut

Birrell was awarded a wild card into the qualifying rounds of the 2016 Brisbane International, but lost to eventual main draw semi-finalist Samantha Crawford. Birrell made her WTA Tour debut after being awarded a wild card into the main draw at the 2016 Hobart International. She won 6-4 6-3 against world No.57 Danka Kovinic from Montenegro. She lost in round two to Dominika Cibulková. In the same tournament, she partnered Jarmila Wolfe in the doubles where they made the final. On January 12, Birrell was awarded a wild card into the 2016 Australian Open but lost in round one to 9th seed Karolína Plíšková, 4-6, 4-6. In February, Birrell made her Fed Cup debut against Dominika Cibulkova. She lost 3-6, 1-6. Shortly after, Birrell suffered a right elbow injury, sidelining her for the rest of the year. Birrell ended 2016 with a ranking of 584.