Grit and determination: Birrell won a semifinal that lasted three hours 24 minutes.
| Photo Credit: R. Ravindran
Australia’s Kimberly Birrell, seeded seven, rose from the ashes to defeat Joanna Garland of Taiwan 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-5 in three hours and 24 minutes in the second semifinal of the WTA 250 Chennai Open tennis tournament at the SDAT-Nungambakkam Stadium here on Saturday.
Birrell fought back from 0-5 down in the decider to make a spectacular comeback and reach her second WTA 250 final.
Serving for the match at 5-3, Garland couldn’t convert five matchpoints as the Australian won the game as Garland took a medical timeout. Birrell won the decisive 12th game at love on her serve.
In the other semifinal, Janice Tjen, the fourth seed from Indonesia, won a hard-fought battle 7-6(6), 7-6(5) in two hours and 24 minutes against Lanlana Tararudee of Thailand to make it to her second WTA 250 final.
In September this year, Tjen had reached a WTA 250 final at the Sao Paulo Open in Brazil.
After both held their serves, the first set went to a tiebreaker. With her trademark forehand down-the-line and crosscourt winners, Tararudee took a 4-2 lead. But, at 4-3, the Thai served a crucial double fault, and Tjen becamemore more resolute as she started to retrieve well and became consistent in her groundstrokes as she pocketed the first set.
Tararudee, who ousted the top seed Zeynep Sonmez in the second round and playing her first semifinal, raced to a 5-2 lead in the second, looking to take the contest to the decider.
Tjen, however, broke Tararudee’s serve in the eighth and 10th games. In the second set tiebreaker, Tjen closed out the contest on her second match point when Tararudee’s backhand return went long.
The results (semifinals):
Janice Tjen (Ina) bt Lanlana Tararudee (Tha) 7-6(6), 7-6(5).
Kimberly Birrell (Aus) bt Joanna Garland (Tpe) 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-5.
Published – November 02, 2025 12:11 am IST
