Birrell, Joint and Duckworth advance on day two at US Open in New York
Kim Birrell, Maya Joint and James Duckworth all won on day two of the US Open in New York on 1 September 2026, with Birrell promising to use her payday for wedding and mortgage costs after surviving a match point and a lengthy rain delay.
Birrell defeated Petra Marcinko 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 to reach the second round after having lost her previous Flushing Meadows openers in 2023, 2024 and 2025, while Joint rallied to beat Liudmila Samsonova 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 and Duckworth came from behind to overcome Matteo Arnaldi 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (10-8). Birrell was required to return to Court 7 following a 14-hour rain delay.
Birrell said she woke early before her resumed match and struggled to settle: "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." She saved a match point in the 12th game of the second set and recovered from a set and a mini break down in the tiebreak to complete one of her most satisfying victories.
The Gold Coaster had lost to Marcinko in straight sets on grass at Eastbourne two months earlier and had dropped the opening set 6-0 in their first meeting in February, which Birrell had won in Texas. After the US Open win Birrell told AAP: "That's crazy," having secured a guaranteed pay day of $US190,000 ($A265,000), with a possible increase should she beat Russian world No 19 Ekaterina Alexandrova in the next round.
Birrell and coach Matt Fraser said they are planning a wedding in Kingscliff and that the cheque will help with honeymoon costs. Birrell said: "Oh my gosh, I don’t think I’ll be spending it here. 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." She added: "And we’ve got a mortgage. Yeah, the mortgage."
Duckworth, who turns 35 in January, completed his long-awaited progression to round two at all four grand slams and is scheduled to face China’s Yibing Wu for a place in the last 32. Joint, 20, who had lost 13 of 14 matches since January before beginning to recover during the American hardcourt swing, now has a second-round match against ninth seed Elina Svitolina. Western Australia rising star Taylah Preston also progressed for the Australian contingent.
Not all Australians advanced: Aleksandar Vukic lost his weather-delayed five-set match to Rei Sakamoto 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
Birrell is set to rise 16 spots to a career-high world No 55 and become Australia’s new No 1, while Duckworth, Joint and Birrell prepare for second-round matches against Yibing Wu, Elina Svitolina and Ekaterina Alexandrova respectively.