Talia Gibson among Australians to bow out on day one of US Open

Updated August 31, 2026 — 11:17am,first published August 31, 2026 — 8:23am

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Taylah Preston has capped her rapid rise to the world’s top 100 and ended Australia’s barren start to the US Open with a second grand slam match win this year.

The 20-year-old wildcard backed up winning for the first time in a major at the Australian Open in January with a mature 6-3, 6-3 victory over big-hitting American Alycia Parks on Monday (AEST).

“It’s really special,” said Preston, who was outside the top 200 in January. “I’m glad that my first grand slam win was in Australia, but hopefully, I can keep winning rounds at all the slams – not just at home.”

There might be a dearth of men’s prospects in Australia beyond Cruz Hewitt, but Preston is part of a youth-led uprising on the women’s side, alongside Maya Joint, Talia Gibson and Emerson Jones.

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Preston, who made her top-100 debut last week and is up to No.89 in the live rankings, was the sole victor on a challenging first day for Australians. Gibson, Adam Walton and Storm Hunter exited in the opening round, while two other Australians, Aleks Vukic and Kim Birrell, also face going out early.

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Vukic trailed Japan’s former world junior No.1 Rei Sakamoto, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 3-6, 4-3 (Sakamoto was 30-15 on serve), when rain caused officials to suspend play. Birrell is a set down and locked at three-all in the second-set tiebreaker with Croatia’s Petra Marcinko.

Coached by Brett Hunter and Ash Barty’s former mentor Craig Tyzzer, Preston overcame deficits in each set to eliminate Parks in her second main draw appearance in New York.

The West Australian wriggled out of a 0-40 hole in the third game before riding a break in the fifth game to a one-set advantage over Parks, whose waywardness contrasted greatly with Preston’s composed play.

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However, an aggressive crosscourt backhand secured Parks an instant break in the second set as she tried to lift in front of her home fans.

Parks had a game point on serve for a 3-0 lead, but repeatedly was her own worst enemy, whether double-faulting, spraying shots wide or long, or fluffing straightforward volleys. It was the latter that saw Parks gift Preston the break back in the second set.

Preston had to dig deep after double-faulting to slip to 15-30 at two-all, but her emotions never wavered.

Parks called for the trainer to have the strapping on her right shoulder readjusted, but it did not help her cause. Another double fault from the American on break point in the next game put Preston on the brink of victory – and the world No.100 completed the job.

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Preston hit only eight winners compared to Parks’ 22, but committed 20 fewer unforced errors.

Earlier, Gibson threatened to cause an upset before losing 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to Croatian Donna Vekic.

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Gibson, 22, has experienced a breakout year, earning a Billie Jean King Cup call-up and storming into the top 100 for the first time after a blistering few weeks at the Indian Wells and Miami Masters events, where she eliminated five top-20 stars.

She even briefly became Australia’s top-ranked woman, but found herself a set and 4-1 down to Vekic – by a double-break deficit – in an error-strewn start before staging a mid-match revival.

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Vekic’s serving woes helped open the door as Gibson claimed 10 points in a row to grab one of the breaks back, hold serve, then reduce the former top-20 star to 0-30 in the eighth game, which turned into an enthralling back and forth.

Eventually, an increasingly agitated Vekic wilted, delivering her sixth double fault overall and fourth in the second set to leave the set tied at four-all. Another Vekic double fault two games later sent the match to a decider.

Everything seemed to be going Gibson’s way when she escaped from 0-40 in the opening game of the final set with some excellent first serves and a wonderfully struck forehand winner from deep in the court.

Her big opportunity came in the ensuing minutes.

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Vekic began spraying even the easiest of shots, offering two break points to Gibson that could have split open the match. Instead, Gibson let her off the hook with some loose errors, which became an unfortunate theme.

Vekic finally made it out of the game on a mishit backhand that snuck inside the sideline and evaded Gibson’s racquet.

The stroke of fortune emboldened the Croatian, who secured the break on her third chance in Gibson’s next service game, which lasted more than 10 minutes and involved five deuces.

Gibson brought up two consecutive break points to get back to three-all, only to again bail Vekic out as her last opportunities came and went.

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“It’s a hard one to swallow,” Gibson said.

“Most of the time it’s who makes the most unforced errors on the court who comes away with the loss, and today that was me, so it’s just something to learn from.”

Hunter qualified for a grand slam main draw for the sixth time in her career, but was no match for Roland-Garros and Wimbledon semi-finalist Marta Kostyuk, the No.11 seed.

Kostyuk breezed past Hunter 6-4, 6-1, while China’s Wu Yibing thumped 43 winners in downing Walton 7-6 (7-2), 6-2, 7-5.

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Marc McGowan is a sports reporter for The AgeConnect via X.

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