Australia's Talia Gibson earned a dubious reward when continued her impressive 2026 season by rallying to beat Austrian teenager Lilli Tagger in the first round of the Cincinnati Open.
Waiting for 22-year-old Gibson in the second round is world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka.
Gibson dropped the first set 4-6 to Tagger but fought back strongly to take the next two 6-1 7-5 on Friday.
Having started the year with a goal of breaking into the top 100, Gibson is already well ensconced there, currently at No.65 thanks in part to huge performances in the US earlier in the year, when she reached the quarter-finals at Indian Wells as a qualifier then made the round of 16 at the Miami Open.
She is coming off a round of 32 showing at the Canadian Open.
Gibson has beaten a number of well-credentialed seeds this season but none with quite the record of Sabalenka, who had a first-round bye in Cincinnati.
Fellow Australian Maya Joint went out in the opening round on Friday, beaten 0-6 6-3 6-4 by Germany's Tamara Korpatsch.
