Kim Birrell Advances at US Open After Thrilling Comeback
Kim Birrell walked off Court 7 with a grin that said everything: relief, disbelief, and the realisation that life had just shifted a notch.
The 28-year-old from the Gold Coast had stared down a match point, survived a sleepless, rain-soaked New York night and finally cracked the code of the US Open first round, outlasting Croatian Petra Marcinko 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 in a match that felt as much about nerve as it did about ball-striking.
For three straight years – 2023, 2024 and 2025 – Flushing Meadows had spat her out at the first hurdle. This time, after a 14-hour weather delay that forced her back onto Court 7 with jangling nerves and heavy legs, Birrell refused to let the tournament do it to her again.
“I woke up around 5am, like wide awake, ready to step out on court and my alarm wasn’t for a few more hours,” she said. “So I had to calm myself back down, and try to clear my mind and then managed to get back to sleep.”
The calm didn’t come easily on court either. Birrell dropped the opening set, then faced a match point in the 12th game of the second set on Sunday. Even when she clawed her way into the tiebreak, she trailed by a mini break. Marcinko, younger and already with a straight-sets win over Birrell on the grass of Eastbourne two months earlier, looked poised to slam the door.
The Australian simply refused to accept it.
She turned the breaker around with tight, disciplined aggression, dragged the contest into a decider and, once there, wore Marcinko down. The third set became a test of endurance and belief. Birrell, who had been bageled 6-0 in the first set of their very first meeting back in February in Texas before recovering to win that match, leaned again on that memory. She knew she could chase down a bad start.
This time, the reward was bigger. Much bigger.
“That’s crazy,” she told AAP after securing a guaranteed $US190,000 ($A265,000) payday, with the chance of more if she can upset Russian world No 19 Ekaterina Alexandrova in the second round.
The money matters. Birrell and her coach, Matt Fraser, are deep in wedding planning for their end-of-year ceremony in Kingscliff. The cheque instantly became part of the guest list.
“Oh my gosh, I don’t think I’ll be spending it here,” Birrell said. “I’ll definitely save some of it. We’re getting married at the end of the year so that helps a lot and maybe I’ll buy some extra flowers.
“And we’ve got a mortgage. Yeah, the mortgage.”
The win does more than ease bank statements. Birrell is projected to jump 16 places to a career-high world No 55, nudging past Talia Gibson to become Australia’s new No 1. From battling through qualifying events and early exits to leading the national rankings, the arc is as stark as it is satisfying.
She wasn’t the only Australian rewriting her story in New York.
Maya Joint, the 20-year-old “young gun” whose 2026 had started like a nightmare, produced a statement victory of her own. Having lost 13 of 14 matches since January, she walked into her clash with higher-ranked Russian Liudmila Samsonova with little form and even less expectation on paper. She walked out with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 win and a season suddenly pointing in the right direction.
Once she found her range after dropping the first set, Joint surged. The Russian’s resistance faded as the Australian’s confidence grew, and by the third set the momentum was one-way traffic. The reward is a shot at ninth seed Elina Svitolina, a marquee assignment that would have felt a world away just a month ago.
On the men’s side, James Duckworth delivered the sort of stubborn, seasoned performance that has come to define his late-career resurgence.
Turning 35 in January, Duckworth dug himself out of a one-set hole to topple 2026 French Open semi-finalist and 30th seed Matteo Arnaldi 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (10-8). It was a mighty comeback, built on persistence and smart point construction rather than fireworks.
The fourth-set tiebreak became a nerve test. Duckworth held his line, closed it out 10-8 and, with it, ticked off a personal milestone: he has now reached the second round at all four grand slams. Next up is China’s Yibing Wu, with a spot in the last 32 on offer and the sense that the veteran is not done carving out new ground.
Their success followed that of Western Australia’s rising star Taylah Preston, who had already booked her place in round two, turning day two into something close to a banner day for the Australian contingent.
Not everyone found a way through. Aleksandar Vukic resumed his own weather-disrupted battle with Rei Sakamoto but couldn’t land the final blows, eventually falling 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in a draining five-setter.
Still, the headline belonged to Birrell.
From the 5am wake-up in a restless New York hotel room to the final handshake on Court 7, she carried the weight of three failed US Open campaigns, a looming wedding, and that ever-present mortgage. She leaves the first round not only still standing in the draw, but standing taller in the sport.
Next comes Alexandrova, a top-20 opponent with heavy artillery and no intention of playing supporting role in Birrell’s late-blooming surge.
Birrell has already shown she can flip a script in one afternoon. The question now is how far this new chapter in New York can run.
