Brisbane:
Australian wild card Kimberly Burrell beat second seed Emma Navarro on Wednesday as the doubles act of Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios came to a screeching halt at the Brisbane International.
But it was all smiles for defending men’s champion Grigor Dimitrov, who advanced to the quarter-finals in straight sets.
In the opening match at Pat Rafter Arena, Berel damaged the US’s Australian Open preparations by matching world number eight Navarro stroke for stroke.
Navarro had a stellar 2024, going deep in all four Grand Slams, including reaching the semifinals of the US Open.
She was expected to see off the challenge of 26-year-old Beryl, who has never broken into the top 100 in her 10 years on the WTA Tour.
But the Australian, who trains at the Queensland Tennis Center and is ranked 113, was undeterred and delighted her home crowd with an unabashed display.
Berel, who will face 35th-ranked Russian Anastasia Potapova in the last 16, said she accepted the role of underdog.
“I guess it’s kind of one of those situations where you don’t have a choice, you just have to go for it,” he said.
“That was the kind of attitude I was going into today — I think that really benefited me, along with playing a lot of hours here on this court.”
Dimitrov continued his love affair with Brisbane by beating another Australian wildcard, Aleksandar Vocic, 6-2, 7-6 (7/5).
The Bulgarian world number 10 won the first set and then the Australian upped his game in the second set to stop Vok.
“I’m starting to find my game but I think there’s still a lot to do,” said Dimitrov, who has won the tournament twice and finished runner-up once.
“So hopefully with every match I can build a little bit more and play better and better.”
He will play either Australian Jordan Thompson or American Alex Michelson for a place in the last four.
Djokovic and Kyrgios rarely featured in doubles this week, but after a close first round, they held off top seeds Michael Vance of New Zealand and Nikola Maktic of Croatia 6-2, 3-6, 10/8. .