Kim Birrell Claims First US Open Win and Career-High Ranking
Kim Birrell walked off Court 7 with her first US Open main-draw win, a guaranteed $US190,000 in the bank and one very specific plan.
“The mortgage,” she laughed. “Yeah, the mortgage.”
On a drenched, drawn-out day in New York, the 28-year-old from the Gold Coast finally cracked her Flushing Meadows curse, surviving a match point and a sleepless night to outlast Croatian Petra Marcinko 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 and reach the second round at the fourth attempt.
Sleepless, then fearless
Birrell’s campaign almost felt doomed before she stepped back on court.
A 14-hour rain delay had split the match in two, left her stewing in her hotel room and staring at the ceiling.
“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.”
Calm came later. First, there was chaos.
Birrell had already stared down a match point in the 12th game of the second set on Sunday. She was still a set down and a mini-break behind in the tiebreak when the contest resumed. One more slip and another first-round exit at Flushing Meadows beckoned, to go with the disappointments of 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Instead, she dug in. The forehand steadied, the legs kept churning, and the tiebreak swung. Once she snatched the second set, the match flipped on its axis.
Marcinko, who had beaten Birrell in straight sets on the Eastbourne grass two months ago, began to fray. Birrell, who had been thrashed 6-0 in the opening set of their very first meeting in Texas back in February before turning that one around, knew there was a way through.
This time, the pattern repeated. Under pressure, she found a way again.
The third set belonged to her. Not in a rush, not in a blur, but in a steady, relentless march to the finish line.
“That’s crazy,” she told AAP, still processing the scale of it all – the win, the breakthrough, the cheque, and the promise of more if she can upset Russian world No 19 Ekaterina Alexandrova next.
From Court 7 to Kingscliff
The victory changes more than just a line on her grand slam record.
Birrell is projected to jump 16 spots to a career-high world No 55, a surge that will make her Australia’s new No 1, edging ahead of Talia Gibson. For a player who has had to scrap for every ranking point, every main-draw entry, that number carries weight.
So does the prize money.
Birrell and her coach, Matt Fraser, are in the middle of planning their wedding in Kingscliff later this year. The timing of a six-figure payday could hardly be better.
“Oh my gosh, I don’t think I’ll be spending it here,” she 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 smile said it all. This was a tennis win, yes, but it was also a life win.
Australians ride the wave
Birrell’s comeback set the tone for a banner day for the Australian contingent.
On another court, 20-year-old Maya Joint staged a revival of her own. Her season had been in freefall – 13 losses in 14 matches since January – but the American hardcourt swing has breathed life into her year, and she carried that momentum into a statement 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory over higher-ranked Russian Liudmila Samsonova.
Once she settled, Joint took control, bossing the baseline and turning a tricky opener into a commanding finish. The reward is a crack at ninth seed Elina Svitolina, a marquee test and a chance to see just how far this resurgence can go.
James Duckworth, the veteran who has spent a career wrestling with injuries and bad luck, added his own chapter to the day’s storyline.
Turning 35 in January, he finally ticked off a personal milestone: he has now reached the second round at all four grand slams. It came the hard way, via a 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (10-8) comeback win over 30th seed Matteo Arnaldi, the 2026 French Open semi-finalist.
Duckworth absorbed the Italian’s early surge, then tightened the screws. By the time the fourth-set tiebreak rolled around, he was the one dictating the rallies, and he held his nerve in a tense finish to complete a mighty win. Next up is China’s Yibing Wu, with a place in the last 32 on the line.
They all followed the lead of WA rising star Taylah Preston, who had already booked her place in round two. For once, the Australian story at Flushing Meadows is not about near misses and gallant exits. It is about momentum.
Not everyone found a way through. Aleksandar Vukic, locked in his own weather-delayed epic against Rei Sakamoto, eventually ran out of road, bowing out 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. His loss underlined just how fine the margins are on these courts.
A new foothold in New York
For Birrell, those margins have haunted this tournament for three straight years. On Court 7, they finally broke her way.
She leaves the first round with more than just relief. There is a ranking jump coming, a honeymoon to plan, a mortgage to chip away at and, crucially, another match to play in New York.
Alexandrova awaits. A top-20 opponent, a stage befitting a player who has just torn up her own script at the US Open.
Birrell has already changed the story of her fortnight. The question now is how much further she can push it.
