Kim Birrell wakes up in New York to a soaked city, a restless mind and a match point hanging over her head.
By late afternoon, she walks off court a US Open main-draw winner for the first time.
The 28-year-old Queenslander dragged herself through an awkward, rain-split epic on Court 7 to beat Croatian Petra Marcinko 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, finally snapping a run of first-round exits at Flushing Meadows in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
From match point down to breakthrough
This wasn’t smooth. It was stubborn.
On Sunday night, Birrell stared down a match point in the 12th game of the second set, already a set down and struggling to contain Marcinko’s weight of shot. She survived, clung on, and then the heavens opened.
Fourteen jittery hours later, she came back to the same court, still trailing by a set and a mini-break in the tiebreak, the match frozen in an uncomfortable limbo.
That’s where she flipped it.
Birrell tightened up her patterns, dragged rallies into the corners and slowly reeled in the Croatian. She snatched the breaker 7-4, and with it, the entire mood of the contest. Marcinko’s shoulders dropped; Birrell’s footwork sharpened. The third set belonged to the Australian, who wore her opponent down with disciplined aggression and enough nerve on the biggest points to finally step through a door that had kept slamming in her face in New York.
For a player who had never been beyond the first round here, it was as much a psychological win as a tennis one.
History, revenge and a sizable reward
There was history laced through this result.
Marcinko had handled Birrell comfortably on grass in Eastbourne just two months ago, winning in straight sets after dishing out a 6-0 opening set. Their first meeting, in Texas in February, had gone Birrell’s way, but the recent memory was a bruising one.
This time, on one of the sport’s biggest stages, Birrell turned the script around. She outlasted the Croat physically and mentally, closing out the decider 6-3 to bank one of the most satisfying victories of her career.
The payoff is immediate and substantial. Birrell moves into a second-round showdown with world No.19 Ekaterina Alexandrova and secures at least $US190,000 ($265,000) in prize money, with the chance for more if she can ride this momentum into Wednesday (Thursday AEST).
She also joins rising star Taylah Preston as the second Australian woman into the second round, both having navigated the same stop-start, rain-hit opening to the tournament.
Vukic falls short as Aussies brace for day two
While Birrell found a way through her weather-interrupted scrap, Aleksandar Vukic couldn’t quite pull off the same trick.
Resuming deep in the deciding set against Japan’s Rei Sakamoto, Vukic returned to court already a break down. Sakamoto slammed the door shut with ruthless efficiency, rattling through six straight points on serve without conceding one to complete a 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory.
Attention now turns to a busy second day for the Australian contingent.
- Alexei Popyrin faces a dangerous test against former US Open semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov, who has had to come through qualifying this year after an injury lay-off.
- Rinky Hijikata draws third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in one of the toughest assignments of the round.
- James Duckworth meets Italian Matteo Arnaldi, while Maya Joint steps into a daunting clash with the highly fancied Liudmila Samsonova.
Looming over it all is world No.7 Alex de Minaur, who launches his title bid on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST) against Italian qualifier Andrea Guerrieri.
For Birrell, though, the story is already written into this year’s first chapter at Flushing Meadows: a rain delay, a match point saved, and finally, after three years of frustration, a place in the second round of the US Open.
