Top seed Kim Birrell rode a wave of momentum to make a winning start at the Perpetual NSW Open on a day when the big guns flexed their muscle at Sydney Olympic Park.

Only 72 hours after representing Australia against Brazil in the Billie Jean King Cup in Tasmania, Birrell made a rare appearance in Sydney and kicked off her campaign in style on Wednesday.

The 27-year-old was pushed in a tough first set against American Lea Ma before cruising to a 7-5, 6-2 win in Ken Rosewall Arena during her opening round match.

Showing no signs of an emotional letdown, Birrell was sharp in ousting world No.353 Ma in 101 minutes to set up a second round showdown with Japan’s Miho Kuramochi.

“It was a tough first set,” Birrell said. “Everyone at this level can play and I knew I was going to have to concentrate.

“It’s a bit tricky sometimes to reset after a couple of big weeks with BJK and I did get to hit here (on Tuesday) which helped a lot as there was a bit of a temperature change, but I’m glad to get through it.

“I wasn’t too concerned with how I was playing. I just wanted to get through and get to (the second round).”

Birrell teamed up with Maya Joint as Australia eased past Portugal and Brazil in the Billie Jean King Cup play-offs.

“Last week was amazing,” Birrell said.

“It was phenomenal to be in the team representing Australia and any time I get to wear green and gold, it’s just so special, and especially to play a home tie. It was a great group of girls with great practice sessions and we get looked after so well.

“I can speak for everyone, we look forward to those weeks and to play two live singles rubbers was special.”

Having remained inside the world’s top 100 after a rollercoaster year, Birrell is determined to add a second title for 2025 after a W75 win in Brisbane in February.

Fellow seeds Talia Gibson, Maddison Inglis and Taylah Preston all advanced with straights sets wins, but there was no such good news for sixth seed Destanee Aiava, who was forced to retire after just three games of her match against Gabriella Da Silva Fick.

Great Britain’s Katie Swan, who has won four ITF titles already this year, was also forced to retire in her match against Korea’s Eunhye Lee with a back complaint. Swan was leading 5-4 in the first set.

On the men’s side, Cruz Hewitt’s campaign ended in cruel fashion after he couldn’t convert a match point in a bruising match with Japanese qualifier Hayato Matsuoka, who had benefited from Bernard Tomic’s first round retirement.

A day after 16-year-old Hewitt saved three match points in a second set tiebreaker during his opening round win, he was one the wrong side of the ledger as Matsuoka fended off one match point and prevailed 5-7, 6-3, 7-5.

Second seed Rinky Hijikata avoided an exit in a tricky second round match against Danish qualifier Carl Emil Overbeck with a 7-6(3), 7-6(2) victory.

James McCabe, seeded at five, had a far easier time with a 6-3, 6-2 win over India’s Karan Singh.

There were highlights aplenty in the men’s doubles matches on Wednesday.

There was a marathon super tiebreaker between the pairing of Calum Puttergill and Dane Sweeny against rivals and third seeds Matt Hulme and Kody Pearson. Puttergill and Sweeny eventually prevailed 6-4, 6-7(10), 17-15.

Cruz Hewitt was part of the feelgood moment of the day when he teamed up with his father, Lleyton, who came out of retirement to play doubles together for the first time at ATP Challenger level.

The Hewitts needed only 46 minutes in a 6-1, 6-0 drubbing of fellow wildcards Hayden Jones and Pavle Marinkov, which included Cruz landing one crowd-pleasing winner from way out of position, weaving its way past the umpire’s chair.

“That was great fun,” Lleyton said. “It was Cruz’s idea earlier in the year and I had a couple of injuries, but I’ve had some great moments on this court and that is right up there.”

The Hewitts will feature in a second round doubles match not earlier than 5pm on Thursday.