Aussie No.1 Kim Birrell admits to being ‘rattled’ by late change of opponent in Australian Open exit

An emotional Kim Birrell has admitted she was rattled by a last-minute change of opponent as she crashed out of the Australian Open in hugely disappointing fashion.

While Alex de Minaur had a straight sets win over Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp on Tuesday night, there wasn’t a lot for locals to cheers about with Alexei Popyrin, Rinky Hijikata and Olivia Gadecki all joining the first round exodus.

After winning her way into the main draw through qualifying, the Australian No.1 had been preparing for what shaped as a difficult first-round encounter with 13th seed Anna Kalinskaya.

But only minutes before taking to Kia Arena, Birrell learnt that the Russian had withdrawn due to illness, and she would instead be facing qualifying lucky loser Eva Lys from Germany.

It all quickly went south from there.

Birrell only held serve once in eight attempts as she crashed out 6-2 6-2 to the free-swinging German, almost without firing a shot.

“Absolutely (it threw me),” said Birrell, who was unable to hold back the tears in her post-match press conference.

“I had prepared to play Anna, who’s a really amazing player.

“I knew that I was in for a battle against her, and I had done my research and spoke a lot with my team but, unfortunately, that isn’t who I faced today.

“Then to find out that she withdrew and that I was playing someone completely different, it did rattle me.

“But in saying that, she was in the same position as me — she didn’t know who she was going to be playing, so we were both put in pretty tough situations.

“I take responsibility for not handling that, and credit to her.”

Birrell had shown her potential with wins over world No.8 Emma Navarro and world No.35 Anastasia Potapova in Brisbane prior to the Australian Open.

She must put the singles loss immediately behind her ahead of Wednesday’s first-round clash in the doubles alongside fellow Aussie Gadecki.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to cry. Obviously I’m an emotional person. I’m human,” Birrell said.

“I put a lot of hard work and effort into this sport, and then to obviously also play some really good matches and then have a day like today is a hard pill to swallow.

“But it happens. Like I said I definitely don’t want this to be the memory that I take from this AO swing. I want to remember — sorry (chokes up) — the good matches and amazing times I’ve had with my family and the crowd.

“And then I’ve got doubles coming up, so obviously I’m going to get all of this out and feel the disappointment and then I will pick myself back up and go again.”

Birrell, the world No.101, will be aiming for ranking points in the coming months to lock in direct entry to the French Open and Wimbledon for the first time.

She missed out in Melbourne and was overlooked for a wildcard, forced to fight through qualifying despite being the Australian No.1.

“I’m really excited that I’ve improved quite a lot and I’m very clear and motivated moving forward,” Birrell said.

“I think that if I can continue the way I’ve been going with the belief in myself and my game that there’ll only be good things to come from this year.

Teenaged star Emerson Jones was also handed a brutal reality check on her grand slam debut, going down 6-1 6-1 to No.6 seed Elena Rybakina.

The 2022 Wimbledon champ showed no mercy to the 16-year-old Australian wildcard, closing out the match in 53 minutes.

Rybakina still found time to praise her young opponent.

“She is very young and I think she has a great future and many more years on tour, but I’m pretty happy with my performance,” Rybakina said.

“I’ve watched her matches, of course. When you don’t know the opponent, at least me, I’m trying to focus on myself, and I know that serve is a big key in my game.

“So I was focusing on that. I needed a couple of games to get used to her shots. She is very talented.”

Gadecki played in the last match on Rod Laver Arena but was no match for Russian Veronika Kudermetova, losing 6-1 6-1.

On the men’s side, de Minaur dominated Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp 6-1 7-5 6-4 but 2023 Australian Open doubles champion Hijikata spurned a golden chance at a second-round berth.

Hijikata fell 6-4 6-4 6-3 to qualifier Mitchell Krueger, ranked 74 spots below him.

The 31-year-old American will meet Frenchman Corentin Moutet, who took down injured local hope Alexei Popyrin in Tuesday evening’s headline act on John Cain Arena, 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-4.

- with 7NEWS