A DOMINANT performance from Australian Kimberly Birrell saw the wildcard dismiss Brisbane International finalist Polina Kudermetova in a comprehensive straight-sets win at the Singapore Tennis Open today.

Birrell raced through her match against the fifth seed with a 6-3 6-2 result in just 62 minutes to secure her spot in the Round of 16. The Aussie was so in control that she recorded the same dominance ratio (1.40) as world number one Aryna Sabalenka did in that Brisbane International final victory over Kudermetova.

After bowing out to German lucky loser Eva Lys in the opening round of the Australian Open, Birrell had time to recoup and came out with plenty of hunger against Kudermetova earlier today. She quick raced out to a 4-0 lead and despite a slight slip up in the seventh game – where she was broken to love – the Australian got back on track to break Kudermetova immediately and close out the set.

The second set started tight with both players breaking in their opening return games, before Birrell strung together the next three to go out to a 4-1 lead. Batting off break points at 1-4 down, Kudermetova held in the sixth game, but it mattered little as Birrell would break two games later to win the match.

Birrell hit 22 winners to 10 unforced errors, with an efficient 81 per cent clip off the first serve. She capitalised off Kudermetova’s second serve by winning 70 per cent of the points (14/20) and breaking six times from nine chances. While the Russian looked admittedly flat – and slumped to her third consecutive main draw loss – nothing could be taken away from the Aussie.

The 26-year-old Australian – who was born in Germany – is currently ranked 95th in the world, the highest from her nation. Her victory saw Birrell move to a 5-2 record, which included an eye-catching straight-sets victory over American world number eight Emma Navarro in Brisbane – who went on to make a quarter final at the Australian Open.

Birrell will now set her sights on American Hayley Baptiste who came from behind in a topsy-turvy win over Mexican Renata Zarazua. Baptiste won 2-6 6-0 6-3 in an hour and 39 minutes. She hit the same amount of winners as unforced errors (26), while Zarazua struggled with just seven winners compared to 18 unforced errors.

UPPER AUSTRIA LADIES LINZ – WTA 500

The first two Round of 32 matches took place earlier today with Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova and Romanian Sorana Cirstea both picking up victories. Tomova won through 7-6 6-4 against Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, with the first set tiebreaker going 9-7. Meanwhile Cirstea overcame Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus in a come-from-behind result, 5-7 6-2 6-3.

OPEN OCCITANIE – ATP 250

Three Round of 32 matches took place on day one with French young gun Arthur Cazaux getting the wood over his doubles partner and Grand Slam winner, Stan Wawrinka. Cazaux needed 90 minutes to defeat Wawrinka – 17 years his senior – 6-4 6-3 with the 22-year-old winning in his birthplace, Montpellier. He faces a stiff second round match against second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime.

In other results, Chinese eighth seed Yunchaokete Bu defeated German Daniel Altmaier 7-6 6-3, while it was better news for Altmaier’s compatriot Dominik Koepfer who ground past French wildcard Gregoire Barrere 6-4 7-6. The remaining nine matches kick off from 10:30pm AEDST tonight.