Talia Gibson continues her North American purple patch, comprehensively defeating world No.41 Sara Bejlek 6-1 6-0 in her first-round match in Miami.
The West Australian won the last 10 games of the match to set up a second-round encounter with 16th seed Naomi Osaka, in a Wimbledon 2025 rematch.
After successfully qualifying for the WTA 1000 tournament, Friday morning’s victory means that Gibson has won nine of 10 matches following her run to the Indian Wells quarterfinals.
Gibson defeated Georgia’s Ekaterine Gorgodze and world no.82 Kamilla Rakhimova to secure her place in the main draw.
Following her breakout campaign where she became the first Australian woman to reach the Indian Wells quarterfinals since Casey Dellacqua in 2014, the 21-year-old climbed to world No.68, confirming her top-100 debut.
She joins Ajla Tomljanovic and Alex de Minaur in the round of 64. Tomljanovic booked her place after defeating Switzerland’s Simona Waltert 6-3 6-4 on Wednesday. Meanwhile, De Minaur has a first-round bye.
Earlier on Friday, Kimberly Birrell, James Duckworth and Alexei Popyrin fell at the opening hurdle.
Birrell rallied to take the second set against American Ann Li, but fell 6-3 in the decider. Duckworth lost two tiebreak sets to Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, while Popyrin fell to Australian Open 2018 finalist Marin Cilic.
Emerson Jones will play her first-round match later on Friday against Czech Linda Fruhvirtova.
Aussies in action: Miami
DAY 2 RESULTS
Women’s singles, first round
[Q] Talia Gibson (AUS) d Sara Bejlek (CZE) 6-1 6-0
Ann Li (USA) d [Q] Kimberly Birrell (AUS) 6-2 2-6 6-3
Men’s singles, first round
Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) d James Duckworth (AUS) 7-6(3) 7-6(4)
Marin Cilic (CRO) d Alexei Popyrin (AUS) 6-4 6-4
COMING UP
[WC] Emerson Jones (AUS) v [Q] Linda Fruhvirtova (CZE)