Kim Birrell saves match point to reach US Open second round

Kim Birrell needed to survive a match point, a rain delay and a difficult night’s sleep before finally breaking through at the US Open.

The Queenslander defeated Croatia’s Petra Marcinko 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 to reach the tournament’s second round for the first time. Birrell had lost her opening match at Flushing Meadows in each of her previous three appearances, in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

The match resumed on court 7 after a 14-hour delay caused by rain. Birrell had saved a match point in the 12th game of the second set on Sunday night, then trailed by a set and a mini-break in the tiebreak before fighting back to level the match and take control in the decider.

The victory reversed the result of Birrell’s previous meeting with Marcinko, who beat her in straight sets on grass at Eastbourne two months earlier. Birrell had won their first match in Texas in February, after dropping the opening set 6-0.

Birrell’s reward is a second-round meeting with Russian world No. 19 Ekaterina Alexandrova and at least $190,000, or $265,000, in prize money. Four more Australians, Alexei Popyrin, Rinky Hijikata, James Duckworth and Maya Joint, were scheduled to play for second-round places. Aleksandar Vukic, however, lost his weather-delayed match to Japan’s Rei Sakamoto 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.