Kim Birrell's hopes of battling her way to another WTA final have been scuppered by American Ann Li after two tough tiebreak sets in the quarter-finals of the Singapore Open.
The Australian No.1 succumbed 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-2) to the US world No.85 after a tight one hour 48-minute battle at the Kallang Tennis Hub on Friday, ending her hopes of reaching a second WTA final.
The consolation for the 26-year-old Gold Coast player, who was finalist in the Japan Open last year, was that she'll soar to a new career-high ranking next week, likely rising 10 places to No.85 in the world.
Birrell is currently the only Australian woman in the top-100, with teenager May Joint in line to move up to 101 next week and Olivia Gadecki to 102 after their earlier exits in Singapore.
Birrrell, who'd come back from 2-5 down in the deciding set to beat another American Hailey Baptiste in her previous match, again showed her fighting spirit as she fought from 5-3 down in the opening set to force a breaker, only for Li to dominate.
With Li serving for the match at 5-4 in the second, Birrell again broke back only for the American to prove the stronger again in the second tiebreak as she set up a semi-final with Russian top seed Anna Kalinskaya, who defeated Thailand's Mananchaya Sawangkaew 6-3 4-6 6-0 in her quarter.
Birrell was Li's second Australian victim of the week after she had disposed of Daria Saville in the first round.
