Rafael Nadal Carlos Alcaraz Tommy Paul Casper Ruud France Serbia Usa Australia Norway Melbourne Greece as Rafael Nadal Carlos Alcaraz Tommy Paul Casper Ruud France Serbia Usa Australia Norway Melbourne Greece

'Gave it my all': Ruud out as Australian Open loses another top seed

channelnewsasia.com

MELBOURNE: Second seed Casper Ruud refused to blame an abdominal injury on Thursday (Jan 19) after being sent packing from the Australian Open by American Jenson Brooksby, a day after Rafael Nadal also went out.The Norwegian, who took a medical timeout after the second set, succumbed 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (4/7), 6-2 in the second round to the 39th-ranked Brooksby on Rod Laver Arena.His early exit left the tournament without its top two seeds in week one after Nadal's shock loss on the same court Wednesday to another American Mackenzie McDonald.It opens the door to Novak Djokovic winning a 10th Melbourne title and temporarily derails Ruud's dreams of becoming world number one."I gave it my all, but in the fourth set especially wasn't enough.

The first two sets were sort of closer, but I ended up getting broken a bit too many times," said the world number three."I will try to learn from it.

I think that he played great today."The 24-year-old Ruud's defeat ended any immediate hope he had of assuming the world number-one ranking from Carlos Alcaraz, who is absent from Melbourne with an injury.Serbian superstar Djokovic or Greek third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas can top the rankings if they win the title.Ruud enjoyed a breakthrough in 2022, reaching the final of both the French and US Opens.He felt "tension and some slight pain in my abdominal" but said it was not responsible for the surprisingly one-sided defeat."It's something that has actually been with me for around two years.

It just sort of tightens up my left side from serving," he said."It didn't affect me a lot, but I felt it a little bit in the second set.

Related News
MELBOURNE: Stefanos Tsitsipas and Iga Swiatek dazzled in bright sunshine to make short work of their third-round opponents on Friday (Jan 20) as some normalcy returned to the Australian Open after scheduling woes, wild weather, upsets and late finishes hogged the headlines.
MELBOURNE: Daniil Medvedev on Friday became the latest title contender to crash out of the men’s draw at the Australian Open, but Iga Swiatek led a charge of the women’s seeds into the last 16.
Sebastian Korda stunned two-time losing finalist Daniil Medvedev at the Australian Open on Friday, adding the Russian to a growing list of top seeds crashing out early. The 31st-ranked American, son of 1998 Australian Open champion Petr Korda, blasted past the seventh seed 7-6 (9/7), 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) on Rod Laver Arena to race into the last 16. Korda's upset teed up a clash with Polish 10th seed Hubert Hurkacz -- who battled past Canada's Denis Shapovalov 7-6 (7/3), 6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 6-3 -- for a place in the quarter-finals.
The Americans Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula were also big winners, ensuring that normal order was resumed on day five at Melbourne Park following the shocks of a day earlier. World number two Ons Jabeur was the biggest casualty in the women's draw on Thursday, while the men's field has lost its top two seeds in Rafael Nadal and Casper Ruud. Hot favourite Swiatek, a three-time major winner but chasing a first Australian Open title, swatted aside qualifier Cristina Bucsa of Spain 6-0, 6-1.

Latest News

Change privacy settings
This page might use cookies if your analytics vendor requires them.