Brooksby’s upset of Ruud adds to American success
MELBOURNE, Australia — So very close to completing a straight-sets upset of No. 2 seed Casper Ruud at the Australian Open, Jenson Brooksby frittered away three match points, sat down at a changeover and began yelling at himself. “How?! How?! God!!”
His face was flush, his emotions unhidden, his game unraveling. Soon enough, that set slipped away as Ruud’s confidence seemed to surge and Brooksby’s apparent collapse momentarily continued. And then, in a blink, Brooksby was back in charge, taking command immediately in the fourth set along the way to a 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-2 victory over Ruud and a spot in a surprisingly Americanfilled third round at Melbourne Park.
“I was getting a little more frustrated out there that I didn’t close it out, and my mentality was changing a little bit,” said the 39th-ranked Brooksby, who sipped from little jars of pickle juice in the fourth set at Rod Laver Arena. “Those are the situations you have to handle sometimes in matches and you’re going to face. I think the biggest question is: How do you respond? I just told myself to reset.”
So leave it to a pair of 20-something Californians to rid the men’s bracket of its two highest seeds: Brooksby, 22, delivered his unexpected triumph at the same stage and in the same stadium where Mackenzie McDonald, 27, defeated No. 1 seed and 2022 tournament champion Rafael Nadal a day earlier. That makes this the first Grand Slam tournament since the 2002 Australian Open where the top two seeds lost before the end of the second round — and the first time since the 1994 French Open that a pair of Americans took out the top two men’s seeds at any major championship tourney.
Nadal, a 36-year-old Spaniard, owns a record 22 Grand Slam men’s singles titles. Norway’s Ruud, just 24, was the runnerup at the French Open to Nadal last June and at last September’s U.S. Open to 19-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who is sitting out the year’s first major due to injury.
Like Ruud, Ons Jabeur reached the finals of two Grand Slam tournaments in 2002. Like Ruud, she came to Australia as a No. 2 seed. And like Ruud, she was bounced in the second round, beaten 6-1, 5-7, 6-1 by 2019 French Open runner-up Marketa Vondrousova in a match that ended at about 1 a.m. Friday in Melbourne.
That was actually rather mundane compared to what three-time major champ Andy Murray and Thanasi Kokkinakis went through, starting the fifth set of their match at about 3 a.m. Murray ended up with a 4-6, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), 6-3, 7-5 victory that ended just past 4 a.m.
The exits of Nadal and Ruud make nine-time champion Novak Djokovic — who dealt with a persistent heckler and a left hamstring that he said worries him during a four-set victory over 191st-ranked qualifier Enzo Couacaud on Thursday night — even more of a title favorite in his return to Australia after being deported a year ago because the Serbian star was not vaccinated against COVID-19.
No American male has won a Grand Slam singles title since Andy Roddick at the 2003 U.S. Open.
By reaching the third round, Brooksby joined countrymen Michael Mmoh, Tommy Paul, Ben Shelton and J.J. Wolf, who also won Thursday, along with McDonald, No. 16 Frances Tiafoe and No. 29 Sebastian Korda, who all won Wednesday. The highest-seeded American man, though, could not make it that far: No. 8 Taylor Fritz bowed out with a 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-2 loss to 113th-ranked wild-card entry Alexei Popyrin of Australia.
Still, the eight men from the United States remaining are the most into the third round in Australia since the same number advanced to that stage in 1996. Mmoh, who lost in qualifying but got into the main draw when another player withdrew, made it this far at a major for the first time by defeating No. 12 Alexander Zverev of Germany, 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.
“Life is crazy. Right when you think everything is looking dim, everything is looking dark, there’s light at the end of the tunnel,” the 107th-ranked Mmoh said. “My week is proof of that.”
Shelton, the NCAA champion from the University of Florida participating in just his second Slam, beat qualifier Nicolas Jarry of Chile 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3), 7-5; Paul came back to edge No. 30 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain 6-2, 2-6, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-4; Wolf breezed past No. 23 Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.
Brooksby now plays Paul; Mmoh takes on Wolf.
“Frances is probably my best friend. I grew up with Tommy,” Mmoh said. “I’ve known these guys for so long. I’ve competed with them.”
There was also a big win for an American woman as 21-yearold qualifier Katie Volynets defeated No. 9-seeded Veronika Kudermetova of Russia 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.
“I literally have the chills, because the fans here are just incredible,” said Volynets, who reached the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time. “I’ve never played in a stadium this packed and with that many people keeping the energy up for me. It was awesome.”