Australian Open: Casper Ruud, Alexander Zverev bow out after defeats against American duo Brooksby, Mmoh in Round 2
Australia Open is dropping losing superstars by day, as Casper Ruud and Alexander Zverev bow out of the tournament in the 2nd round of matches.
On Wednesday, the world witnessed the biggest upset of the tournament. Rafael Nadal, the top seeded player and defending champion was knocked out by McDonald.
Today, there were two more ousting and Ruud and Zverev were knocked out of the tournament by two more Americans who were having a great time in the tournament.
The first of the lot was Casper Ruud the second seeded player of the tournament. He was in a matchup against American player Jenson Brooksby by 1-3. In the very next match he was followed by Alexander Zverev who was beaten by American Michael Mmoh by a similar margin as well.
Ruud had come into the tournament with an ambition of becoming the number 1 in ATP Rankings. And after the untimely departure of Rafael Nadal in 2nd round his desire must have turned into a belief.
Brooksby defeats Ruud in dominating fashion
But sadly, in his way stood a sturdy looking American player who was better on the day by a long margin. Brooksby ended Ruud’s ambition with a 3-1 knockout.
Brooksby had a great start against the Norwegian. For some reason Ruud was not looking his normal self and the American took full advantage of the same. He was two sets up heading into the third set.
Ruud, was confirmed to be suffering some abdominal injury issues. He had called for an injury break after the second set. And the treatment seemed to have helped him with the matter, at least for the moment.
Ruud made a comeback in the third set to win it by comfortable margin of 6-2. His happiness however was short lived as Brooksby found his footings yet again in the fourth set and the match ended 3-1 in the favor of the American.
Brooksby booked a ticket for the next round with a 6-3, 7-5, 2-6, and 6-2 win over Ruud.
“First and foremost, Casper is a warrior, I knew it would be a great battle out there,” said Brooksby, 22 said after the game. “I’m just really proud of my mental resolve after the third-set battle didn’t go my way, and to turn it around… I thought I was playing really strong and I just didn’t want to lose my focus out there.”
Zverev miss out in comeback Grand Slam event
Returning from a prolonged period of break to the Grand Slam arena, the world was expecting a lot from the former 2nd ranked Alexander Zverev. He was facing a nonchalant opponent in the form of Michael Mmoh in the 2nd round of AO. And this was a tie that always favored the German.
However, that is now how things turned out for the world number 13. He opened the match with an empathic victory in the first set by 7-6. It was a hard-fought battle which really could have gone either way.
And the rest of the match was a similar story. Whatever Zverev did, Mmoh matched him toe to toe. The second set too was a close affair, until the American took the lead and eventually won it 6-4.
From there onwards it was a landslide in the favour of Mmoh who won the third set 6-3 and topped it off with 6-2 in the final set to march on to the 3rd round of the Australian open.
“Wow, this is the biggest win of my career without a doubt,” said Mmoh after the match, “Life is crazy, this is insane.”
