Priscilla Hon was the last Aussie standing on day seven in Brisbane, partnering with Anna Kalinskaya in their women’s doubles final defeat against Russian pairing Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider.
Due to Andreeva’s singles run, the final was moved to the night session, which saw players not take the court until just before 11pm.
After trailing 2-5 in the first set, Hon and Kalinskaya fought back to take it to a tiebreak. They held set point at 6-5, but a big serve by Shnaider scuppered their chances.
The pair led 5-3 in the second set but could not take it out, losing the match 7-6 7-5.
Despite the loss, Hon said it was an enjoyable and unexpected week.
"It was such a last-minute thing [playing together], I don’t think we thought we’d be here but here we are," she said in the trophy ceremony.
"I’ve never had this much fun with someone on court. We couldn't stop laughing, we're having a great time out here."
Hailing from Brisbane, Hon thanked the crowd, who stayed until almost 1:00am.
"You could be doing a lot better things on a Saturday night than watching us play doubles," she said. "We appreciate you guys staying. I also train here so it's been really nice having my family and friends be here."
It was Hon’s first WTA tour doubles final and her ranking will now move up more than 300 spots to No.181.
A good week for the Aussies
Hon's final appearance capped off a strong week for the Aussie contingent.
Kimberly Birrell, Hon’s conqueror in round one, had a giant-killing run, taking down world No.8 Emma Navarro on the way to the quarter-finals.
Young Aussies Maya Joint and Talia Gibson pushed their much higher-ranked opponents to three tough sets, while in the men's, Jordan Thompson took out former world No.6 Matteo Berrettini en route to a quarter-final appearance.
In the doubles, Jason Kubler and Rinky Hijikata led the way by making the semi-finals.
Finalists decided
Earlier in the evening, doubles winner Mirra Andreeva went down to world No.1 Aryna Sabaelnka who marks back-to-back Brisbane finals.
The two-time Australian Open winner will be hoping to go one better than her runner-up finish in 2024 when she takes on qualifier Polina Kudermetova.
In the men’s, Reilly Opelka won the big-serving battle over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. He will play Czech Jiri Lehecka who was leading defending champion Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 4-4 when the Bulgarian was forced to retire.
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