Casper Ruud was predicted to have a strong showing at the Australian Open this year after making it to two Grand Slam finals last year, most recently the US Open final. This was especially true since world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz won’t be playing in Melbourne. The world’s No. 3 player, however, was eliminated in the second round by Jenson Brooksby, who earned his second career victory over a top-10 player.
In his post-game interview on the court, Brooksby stated that Casper is first and foremost a warrior.
“I anticipated a fantastic struggle taking place there. I felt secure in my ability, so I enjoyed competing outside and seeing what would happen. “I thought I was playing pretty good and I wanted to every game not to lose my focus out there,” said the player. “I’m just really happy of my mental determination when the third set struggle didn’t go my way [missing three match points] and just turned it around. I had Covid the day before I arrived here last year, but maybe this is the start of many successful years to come.
In order to tie the first set at 3-3, Brooksby had to preserve a break point, but he went on to win one of the following two games.
Ruud was exhausted by Brooksby’s relentless rally, and the Norwegian ultimately sent a wayward backhand wide to give the American the upper hand.
Brooksby ended the first set on the Ruud serve. After putting a forehand serve return out of Ruud’s grasp, he roared.
Long rallies from the baseline were welcomed by both players. In the third game of the second set, Brooksby’s overcooked backhand gave Ruud his first break of the match. Ruud committed the identical blunder, and the American came back to tie the score at 2-2.
Against Brooksby, Ruud wins the third “drama-filled” set in a tie-break.
In the 66-minute set, neither player could be separated, but Brooksby managed to win another epic rally when his backhand dribbled off the net cord on set point when Ruud was serving.
In the third set, Brooksby went up a break to make it 2-0, but Ruud broke back right after.
The Brooksby backhand had been a consistent weapon all day, and it was very helpful to him once more as he took a 4-2 advantage.
The world No. 37 had three match points on his own serve and aggressively attacked each one, but Ruud saved all of them and returned to serving.
To win the tie-break and force a fourth set after an 83-minute set, Ruud displayed all of his Grand Slam expertise.
As the 24-year-old sent a crazy forehand way wide, Ruud looked to lose concentration a little bit, and Brooksby took advantage with a break to love.
Oh, yes!” exclaims Ruud. Brooksby makes an incredible pass shot.
Brooksby kept his composure and broke Ruud’s serve once again to take a commanding 3-0 lead. In the fourth game, Ruud recovered one break, but Brooksby immediately retaliated with his third break of the set.
Last year, Brooksby defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in Indian Wells, but on his fifth match point, he added a second top-10 victim to his resume and earned his biggest career victory.