Birrell Survives Match Point as Australians Advance at US Open

Kim Birrell saved a match point and overcame a long rain interruption to reach the second round of the US Open for the first time, defeating Croatia’s Petra Marcinko 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 in New York. Australian Associated Press reported that the 28-year-old had lost in the opening round in each of her three previous appearances at Flushing Meadows.

Watch the highlights:

The match stretched across two days after rain halted play for about 14 hours. Before the delay, Birrell had fought off a match point in the 12th game of the second set but still trailed by a set and a mini-break in the tiebreak. She recovered to take the breaker and then won the deciding set.

The result reversed Birrell’s straight-sets loss to Marcinko on grass at Eastbourne two months earlier. The pair had also met in Texas in February, where Birrell recovered after losing the opening set 6-0 to win. According to AAP, the latest victory is projected to lift Birrell 16 places to a career-high world ranking of No. 55 and make her Australia’s top-ranked woman.

Birrell will next face Russian world No. 19 Ekaterina Alexandrova. Her first-round success guarantees $190,000 in prize money, with AAP reporting an Australian-dollar equivalent of $265,000. Birrell said the money would help with her mortgage and her wedding to coach Matt Fraser, which is planned for the end of the year.

Maya Joint and James Duckworth also advanced during the second day of competition. The 20-year-old Joint rallied past higher-ranked Russian Liudmila Samsonova 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 after entering the American hard-court swing following a run in which she had lost 13 of 14 matches since January. Joint’s second-round opponent will be ninth seed Elina Svitolina.

Duckworth came back to beat 30th seed Matteo Arnaldi, a 2026 French Open semifinalist, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (10-8). The victory means Duckworth, who turns 35 in January, has now reached the second round at all four Grand Slam tournaments. He will play China’s Wu Yibing for a place in the last 32. Taylah Preston had already progressed, giving Australia four players through, while Aleksandar Vukic lost a five-set match to Rei Sakamoto.