Kimberly Birrell lost her first tour-level final in Osaka in 2024 and her second in Chennai in 2025. On Sept. 27, 2026, at 28, she won the third. The Australian beat compatriot Maya Joint 6-4, 6-2 in the Korea Open final in Seoul in 1 hour, 23 minutes, according to the WTA, in the first all-Australian final on the WTA Tour since 2017.
It was the kind of week her career has been built on. She lost her opening service game of the final and trailed 0-2, then took the next four games, Agence France-Presse reported, and Joint lost all four of her service games in the second set. A day earlier, after rain forced a quarterfinal and semifinal into the same day, Birrell came from a set down to beat Katie Volynets and then won in three sets against Anna Bondar, the WTA said. In the first round she had overturned a 3-0 deficit in the second set against Tamara Zidansek.
Quick facts
- Born: April 29, 1998, in Dusseldorf, Germany
- Country: Australia
- Plays: right-handed
- Height: 1.70m (5 ft 7 in)
- Career-high singles ranking: No. 56
- WTA singles titles: 1 (Seoul, 2026)
- Grand Slam final: 2025 Australian Open mixed doubles, with John-Patrick Smith
Early career and the elbow
Birrell was born in Germany to Australian parents and started playing at 4, according to her WTA biography. She played her first professional events on the ITF circuit in Australia in 2012 and made her WTA qualifying debut in Hobart in 2014. Two years later in Hobart she won a round in her first tour main draw as a wild card, losing to Dominika Cibulkova, and reached the doubles final with Jarmila Wolfe.
The start of 2019 looked like the breakthrough. As a wild card in Brisbane she beat the world No. 10, Daria Kasatkina. At the Australian Open, in only her second Grand Slam main draw, she beat 29th-ranked Donna Vekic to reach the third round, where Angelique Kerber stopped her. She then missed the second half of 2019 and the whole of 2020 to have elbow surgery, the WTA says.
The long way back
The return was slow. In 2022 she reached three ITF finals and won a W60 title in Playford. In 2023 she reached her first WTA quarterfinal as a qualifier in Merida, made the quarterfinals in Seoul and broke into the top 100 for the first time.
The first final came in Osaka in 2024, as a qualifier, and ended in a loss to Suzan Lamens. The second came in Chennai in 2025, a loss to Janice Tjen. That season she also reached her first WTA 500 quarterfinal in Brisbane, reached a career-high of No. 60 in May and finished a year inside the top 100 for the first time, according to her WTA biography. At the 2025 Australian Open she and John-Patrick Smith reached the mixed doubles final, losing to Olivia Gadecki and John Peers.
2026: wins at every major
Birrell’s 2026 is the first season in which she has won a main-draw match at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open, according to her WTA Grand Slam record. She reached the second round at all three, starting with her first-round win in Paris. She also reached the semifinals in Adelaide and Austin, the quarterfinals of the Australian Open women’s doubles with Talia Gibson, and in Eastbourne saved two set points to beat Barbora Krejcikova in the first round, the WTA said.
Playing style
Her WTA biography describes her as a baseliner whose favourite shot is the forehand and whose favourite surface is hard courts. She is coached by Nicole Pratt and Chris Mahony.
Billie Jean King Cup
Birrell made her Billie Jean King Cup debut for Australia in 2016 and lost her first five singles matches in the competition, according to the ITF. Her first singles wins came in 2025, against Colombia’s Yuliana Lizarazo at the Qualifiers and against Portugal’s Matilda Jorge and Brazil’s Nauhany Vitoria Leme da Silva at the Play-offs. She has won the only doubles match she has played, with Storm Hunter against Slovenia at the 2023 Finals.
Grand Slam best results
- Australian Open: third round (2019)
- Roland Garros: second round (2026)
- Wimbledon: second round (2026)
- US Open: second round (2026)
- Women’s doubles: Australian Open quarterfinal (2026, with Talia Gibson)
- Mixed doubles: Australian Open final (2025, with John-Patrick Smith)
Season Snapshot (as of Sept. 27, 2026)
- Ranking entering Seoul: No. 60 (WTA). The rankings after her title publish on Monday.
- 2026 singles record entering Seoul: 23-23 (WTA), plus five wins in Seoul.
- 2026 results: champion Seoul (as No. 2 seed); semifinals Adelaide and Austin; second round Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open.
- Coaches: Nicole Pratt and Chris Mahony.
This snapshot is dated and will change. The career record above does not.
More player profiles: Tennis Player Profiles.
