{"id":503532,"date":"2026-05-26T21:55:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T21:55:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=503532"},"modified":"2026-05-26T22:24:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T22:24:15","slug":"aussie-underdogs-stun-top-10-stars-at-french-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=503532","title":{"rendered":"Aussie underdogs stun top-10 stars at French Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kim Birrell joined Adam Walton in scoring one of the biggest upsets of the opening week in Paris, defeating No.5 seed Jessica Pegula with a dominant comeback performance at Roland Garros<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On the same day\ufeff Walton pulled off a massive first-round upset defeating top 10-ranked Daniil Medvedev<\/a> in a gruelling five-set marathon on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, Birrell continued the momentum she'd built during the 2025 season which saw her reach a career high ranking of No.60.<\/p>\n

The unseeded Birrell lost the first set but mounted a comeback to win 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 in 2 hours and 15 minutes on Court Simonne-Mathieu.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Sports scientist's grim fear for Maroons debutant Walker<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Hird will say 'yes' if Bombers ask him to be coach<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Cleary could be the biggest loser from Origin shifting blow<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Pegula dominated the opening frame and broke Birrell's serve four times to take the first set in just 24 minutes.<\/p>\n

Yet the match swung in the Aussie's direction at 2-2 in the second, when the Queenslander won five consecutive points, breaking Pegula's serve.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

She consolidated the break and closed the second set 6-3 and continued the intensity into the third, dropping just three games.<\/p>\n

Pegula's unforced error count tripled after the opening set, climbing from six to 24 and the slower style on clay suited Birrell as the match wore on.<\/p>\n

"I don't really know what to say or think. When I saw the draw and saw I was playing Jessie, I knew it would be really tough," Birrell said.<\/p>\n

"I really admire her as a player and person. I tried to take it one point at a time. I thought she played so well in the first set.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/josemorgado\/status\/2059368705906082168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

"My goal was to just win one game and slowly gain some confidence. So happy I was able to play probably the best match I've played on clay, and able to play during a grand slam \u2014 especially here, it's really really special."<\/p>\n

The stunning result came hours after\ufeff Walton eliminated Medvedev<\/a> in a gruelling five-set marathon.<\/p>\n

The victory sends Walton into the second round of the grand slam after a dramatic 6-2, 1-6, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 triumph.<\/p>\n

"Such an up-and-down match. I got off to a hot start, I don't know, I felt like the ebbs and flows of the match were quite large today. Just really proud of my efforts in the fifth set to come from a break down to get the win," Walton said after the game.<\/p>\n

Watch all the action from Roland-Garros 2026<\/strong><\/em> live and on demand on Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, with centre court in 4K UHD. World class coverage also on 9Gem and<\/strong><\/em> streaming on 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Adam<\/p>\n

For the 27-year-old Australian, the victory marks a monumental milestone in his playing career. Currently ranked world No.97, the win against the heavily favoured Medvedev marks the first top-10 victory of Walton's career.<\/p>\n

Walton revealed a previous encounter against the Russian played a massive role in his mental preparation.<\/p>\n

\"Adam<\/p>\n

"It's huge. Beating him in Cincinnati definitely gave me the belief today that I knew I could do it. I believed and (I'm) just really happy with my performance," he said.<\/p>\n

"I felt he was playing pretty well. (Medvedev) was making a lot of first serves and he was liking my ball, and then I knew I just had to hang tough.<\/p>\n

"I thought the 3-1 game, I faced some break points there and if I (went) down 4-1 double break, it's going to be pretty tough from there.<\/p>\n

\"Adam<\/p>\n

"Getting that hold definitely just keeping the score close. I knew if I just kept fighting, maybe I would get a chance and I'm glad I did."<\/p>\n

The match lasted more than three hours in the intense Parisian heat.<\/p>\n

"Yeah, it's definitely hotter than previous years that I've played here, but we grow up in the heat, we like the heat," Walton said.<\/p>\n

"It makes the ball move faster through the air, which I think helped my game today. So I really like it when it's hot in Paris."<\/p>\n

While Walton celebrates his career moment, it was a different story for fellow Australian Alexei Popyrin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Popyrin bowed out in the opening round after a tough four-set battle against America's Zachary Svajda, falling 6-3, 3-6, 6-7, 5-7.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kim Birrell joined Adam Walton in scoring one of the biggest upsets of the opening week in Paris, defeating No.5 seed Jessica Pegula with a […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":503536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503532"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=503532"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":503541,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503532\/revisions\/503541"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/503536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=503532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=503532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=503532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}