Australian Open – Casper Ruud, physically affected, knocked down in the 2nd round by Jenson Brooksby

We really thought he wouldn’t make it, that he had missed his chance and that he was going to bite his fingers. But Jenson Brooksby, after missing three match points in the 3rd set, finally went to the end of his feat by taking out the No. 2 seed of the tournament Casper Ruud (6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (4 ), 6-2) this Thursday in the 2nd round of the Australian Open

The Norwegian, who could have become world number 1 if he had reached the final here, was certainly apparently physically diminished, he also left the court for treatment after the loss of the 2nd set on an unstoppable “let” ball .

But not sufficiently injured nevertheless not to defend his chances until the end of a fight which lasted almost 4 hours (3h56). Ruud, faithful to his warrior virtues, was not so far from turning the tide when he won a dramatic 3rd set after the young American missed three match points on his serve, at 5-4. But Brooksby was able to regain his senses, and the finalist of Roland-Garros and the US Open 2022 finally plunged for good in the 4th set.

After Rafael Nadal (N.1) on Wednesday, the Australian Open therefore lost its first two seeds even before the end of the second round, both beaten by two American players. This is only the 7th time that this has happened since the start of the Open era.

But as much as MacKenzie McDonald’s exploit on Wednesday against Nadal was unexpected, Brooskby’s victory is only the confirmation of a talent that we have known for a long time, revealed in particular during the US Open 2021 where he had reached the round of 16 at only 20 years old.

Less in the eye of the spotlight in 2022, the Californian, who was playing his first match in the final draw of the Australian Open where he was forfeited last year, seems to have found the meshes of his tennis as a scrambler of first. We could see it in Auckland where he reached the semi-finals last week.

A 100% American duel in the 3rd round

Carried in particular by a backhand quality at times implausible, he notably passed 50 winning shots to a Ruud who often found himself without a solution, even if he tried everything to derail the opposing machine.

It’s the second time in his career that Brooksby has broken a top 5 finish after beating Stefanos Tsitsipas last year in Indian Wells. And this one, acquired in mondovision on the Rod Laver Arena, will remain in his head for a long time, certainly, even if he will have to recover his spirits before facing Tommy Paul in the 3rd round. Another American…