The 20-year-old wildcard responded to the vocal home support to upset Turkey's higher-ranked Zeynep Sonmez 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 on Court 3 on Monday.
Shooting for the lines, Gibson opened up after scraping through the second-set tiebreaker and was rewarded for her courage with the most significant win of her fledgling career.
The world No.150 will pocket a minimum $200,000 for setting up a second-round shot at Spanish 11th seed Paula Badosa on Wednesday.
First Grand Slam win, first top 100 win �— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) What a moment for Aussie wildcard Talia Gibson as she comes back from a set down to defeat Sonmez 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-1 🇦🇺@wwos • @espn • @eurosport • @wowowtennis • #AusOpen • #AO2025 pic.twitter.com/qv8qL5DCICJanuary 13, 2025
Veteran Alja Tomljanovic also progressed early on day two with a fighting three-set win over exciting young American Ashlyn Krueger.
Also playing on a wildcard after falling out of the world's top 100 while battling a nagging knee injury for much of the past two years, Tomljanovic prevailed 6-4 4-6 6-4 after a two-hour, 22-minute slugfest on Margaret Court Arena.
The three-time grand slam quarter-finalist next faces 12th seed Dianna Schnaider on Wednesday, needing to upset the Russian to make the last 32 at Melbourne Park for the first time in 10 attempts.
Gibson and Tomljanovic were among a dozen Australians scheduled for day-two action, having already fared batter than compatriots Daria Saville, Adam Walton, Omar Jasika and Li Tu, who were all first-day casualties at Melbourne Park.
Ajla Tomljanovic salutes the crowd after her three-set win over American Ashlyn Krueger. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS)
World No.27 Jordan Thompson plays German Dominik Koepfer in his first grand slam appearance as a seed after enjoying a breakout 2024 season.
Nick Kyrgios makes his long-awaited grand slam comeback against Brit Jacob Fearnley in one of the feature night matches on Monday.
Kyrgios's doubles partner Thanasi Kokkinakis, along with Chris O'Connell, James Duckworth, James McCabe, Tristan Schoolkate, Aleksandar Vukic, Maya Joint and Destanee Aiava also open their campaigns.
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