A weary Kimberly Birrell has missed out on winning her maiden WTA title after losing the Chennai Open final - but the Australian has earned the consolation of a special sportsmanship award for her selfless behaviour at the Indian tournament.

Gold Coast player Birrell was defeated 6-4 6-3 by rising Indonesian Janice Tjen in Sunday's final -- a bitter disappointment as it was her second defeat in a championship match in Asia after also losing the Osaka final last year.

But seventh seed Birrell clearly wasn't at her sharpest after battling through an exhausting semi-final 24 hours earlier against Taiwan's Joanna Garland, in which the courageous Australian battled back from 5-0 down in the final set and saved five match points on the way to victory in three hours 24 minutes.

Still, it wasn'

See Full Page