Queensland tennis giant-killers Kimberly Birrell and Adam Walton have both crashed back down to earth in Paris, knocked out on another sweltering day at the sun-baked French Open.
Two days after they pulled off major shocks with the performances of their lives, Gold Coast's Birrell downing women's fifth seed Jessica Pegula and Walton knocking out men's sixth seed Daniil Mevdevev, the follow-ups on Thursday fell horribly flat against opponents who looked eminently more beatable.
But with the mercury hitting 30 and her Ukrainian opponent appearing to be flagging in the heat, Birrell was initially bamboozled and eventually outlasted by unorthodox Oleksandra Oliynykova, succumbing to 'double trouble' as her serving faltered and she folded in a 10-point tiebreak decider 6-3 0-6 7-6 [10-5].
