It is already his best year in Melbourne. Ugo Humbert, who easily beat Richard Gasquet in the first round, confirmed against lucky loser American Denis Kudla in the second round, on the night of Wednesday to Thursday (6-2, 6-7, 6-2, 6-4). If his best Grand Slam performance is an 8th final at Wimbledon last season, Humbert had never managed to get past the second round in Australia. It is now done. He will face, in the next, the winner of the meeting between the American Maxime Cressy and the Dane Holger Rune (seeded n°9).
The other Frenchman of the night, Jérémy Chardy, could not resist the Briton Daniel Evans (6-4, 6-4, 6-1).
In addition, the Norwegian Casper Ruud, 3rd in the world, was eliminated Thursday in the second round of the Australian Open by the American Jenson Brooksby (39th) 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (4/7) , 6-2. “Casper is a warrior, but I was confident in my game and came to give it a try. I’m very proud of the mental toughness I showed after losing the third set,” Brooksby commented.
Ruud saved four match points, including three in the third set at 5-3 on his opponent’s serve, before losing. Now 24, the Norwegian played in the finals at Roland-Garros and the US Open last year, before qualifying for the year-end Masters in Turin. In Melbourne, he had reached the round of 16 in 2022, his best result for his third participation.
For his part, Brooksby participated in his first Australian Major at the age of 22. He reached the round of 16 at the US Open in 2021. The day after the elimination of Rafael Nadal, 2nd in the world, the Australian Open thus lost its N.2 seed.
