World no. 3 Casper Ruud crashes out of 2023 Australian Open in 2nd round

| by Balasz Virag

Casper Ruud was one of the players that had a chance to become world no. 1 after the 2023 Australian Open, but he lost already in the second round.

Last year, the 24-year-old Norwegian was only one match away from becoming the highest-ranked player in the world. He faced off against Carlos Alcaraz in the 2022 US Open final, with a winner of the match guaranteed the top spot. However, he lost and so another chance appeared at the first major of the 2023 season.

Alcaraz withdrew from the tournament, and Ruud became one of the players that had a chance to overtake him as world no. 1. But he would need to go much further than the second round to achieve that.

2023 Australian Open ATP & WTA Prize Money & Points Overview - $76,500,000
2023 Australian Open ATP & WTA Prize Money & Points Overview - $76,500,000

After beating Tomas Machac in the first round, the world no. 3 played against Jenson Brooksby from the United States. The young American had a solid form, when he previously reached the semifinals in Auckland this year, losing only to world no. 12 Cameron Norrie.

In the first set of their meeting, the Norwegian had a first break point and first chance to go ahead by more than one game, but he couldn't use his chance and got punished for it. Brooksby won the last four games of the first set, breaking his opponent twice, and winning the first set 6-3 in 42 minutes.

The second set was the one that featured the most break points. Ruud had a total of seven chances to break his opponent, but he used only 1. On the other hand, Brooksby used two of his three chances and won the set after 66 minutes, 7-5.

If the second-seeded Ruud wanted to even think about the third round, he needed to fight in the third set, and he did exactly that. He was already down 2-5 and faced three match points in the ninth game, but he broke back and forced a tie-break, which he won 7-4 to push the match into the fourth set.

However, the American was superb in the fourth set, breaking his opponent three times. Eventually, Brooksby won 6-3, 7-5, 6-7(4) 6-2 and advanced to the third round against compatriot Tommy Paul.

"He is the favourite but other players can win" - Ruud previews Djokovic at the Australian Open
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