Day 3 of the 2023 Australian Open saw top seeds tumble. First, it was no.2 seeded Casper Ruud who fell to world no.48 Jenson Brooksby in four sets of 6-3 7-5 6-7 6-2.
Ruud took a medical timeout in the second set but it could not stall Brooksby’s progress into the third round. the game took almost four hours at the Rod Laver Arena.
It underlines the rise of American male tennis players as Brooksby’s progress follows that of Mackenzie McDonald who sent Rafael Nadal crashing on Wednesday.
Ruud revealed in the post-match press conference that Brooksby was just too good for him on the day. “He played great today and ended up winning many of the longer rallies and had sort of an answer to all the questions that I asked him.”
“I said, well played, and that he was annoyingly good today. I said good luck for the rest of the tournament, as well.”
Also, Alexander Zverev, ranked No.13 was sent packing by another American, Michael Mmoh in four sets. Mmoh, son of former Nigerian Davis Cup player, David Mmoh beat Zverev 6-7 6-4 6-3 6-2 in three hours and 26 minutes.
Mmoh, a lucky loser is into the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in his career. Mmoh was over the moon after his unlikely triumph after he got a lucky first round draw.
“Right when you think everything is looking dim, everything is looking dark there’s light at the end of the tunnel and my week is proof of that,” Mmoh said.
“I could easily have been in the States right now. I was ready to go, I was packing my bag, I had my flight booked, and I was actually supposed to leave yesterday morning.
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“This is obviously the biggest win of my career, hands down. I definitely felt the nerves a little bit. I felt like I settled down at the end of the first but at that point, I was telling myself I shouldn’t even be here.
“The last thing I wanted to do was not go for it when I had the chance,” Mmoh added.
Alexei Popyrin also knocked out no.8 seed Taylor Fritz in five sets of 7-6 6-7 4-6 7-6 6-2 in four hours.
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