Adelaide International: Birrell into semi-finals

Australian wildcard Kimberly Birrell edged out Romanian qualifier Jaqueline Cristian 5-7, 6-1, 7-5 to move into the semi-finals of the Adelaide International on Thursday night.

Birrell, ranked No 106, will play the winner of the match between Canadian Victoria Mboko, the No 8 seed, and American Madison Keys, the second seed, next.

Ahead of her victory, the Australian benefited from the forfeit of Czech Marketa Vondrousova and defeated Austrian lucky loser Anastasia Potapova (6-4, 6-4).

Cristian, ranked No 38, won against Australian Daria Kasatkina (6-4, 6-0) and Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova, the No 4 seed (6-4, 6-4) in the previous rounds.