Ajla Tomljanovic and Kimberly Birrell have fallen quick in opposition to an impressed Slovakia as Australia’s hopes for a fourth semifinal in 5 years finish.
Malaga, Spain, 18 November 2024 | Dan Imhoff#BJKCup marketing campaign 💔
Properly executed Ajla on combating by way of to the top, and we want you a speedy restoration 🫶 pic.twitter.com/Sp04JdZAwa
— TennisAustralia (@TennisAustralia) November 17, 2024
“I believe Kim was very, very near getting that first match our means, which was nice. I believed it was a very good, high quality match,” Stosur mentioned. “That was unlucky to be down 1-0, after which I believe it was fairly apparent from 4-0 Ajla was actually struggling.
“Yeah, it was a troublesome state of affairs to then be attempting to get ourselves again into the tie when clearly you possibly can see that your No.1 participant is fairly hampered on the market. Yeah, not the best way you ever need it to go.”
The 31-year-old Tomljanovic was again because the Australian No.1 after she picked up her second WTA 125 title in Hong Kong final month however struggled after a medical timeout within the opening set in opposition to Sramkova, who had upset world No.11 Danielle Collins within the Slovaks’ upset of the US.
“Positively felt actually onerous to get again on monitor after that, as a result of, , having a earlier damage there, it by no means feels good to really feel one thing go unsuitable,” the world No.85 mentioned.
“I imply, I all the time bounce again, so I’ll, nevertheless it’s undoubtedly a troublesome day, particularly when it virtually seems like I’d have taken this a bit simpler if it was only a common match for myself, however you don’t need to let your teammates down.”
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World No.115 Birrell, who reached her maiden tour closing in Osaka final month, battled for greater than two-and-a-half hours earlier than she went all the way down to former top-50 participant Hruncakova.
She conceded her opponent’s serve proved pivotal.
“I discovered it fairly robust to make any inroads into her service video games till I had a few possibilities within the second set, and within the third set, too. However, yeah, credit score to her. I believe she performed very well, particularly on the massive factors,” Birrell mentioned.
“Yeah, I imply, I fought as onerous as I may. I left every thing on the market. I believe I did enhance because the match went on, however I performed in opposition to a high quality participant who simply performed higher than me on the day.”
