Jenson Brooksby said he was confident he could beat Casper Ruud in their Australian Open second round match. Brooksby, ranked at No 39 in the world, defeated Ruud 6-3 7-5 6-7 (4) 6-2 to progress into the Australian Open third round.
“Casper’s a warrior, I knew it would be a great battle. I was pretty confident with my level and just wanted to have fun competing out there and see what could happen. I was just really proud of my mental resolve there after the third set battle didn’t go my way, to just turn it around.
I thought I was playing really strong and I just wanted every game [to] not lose my focus out there,” Brooksby said after beating Ruud, per the Australian Open website.
How Brooksby defeated Ruud
The first break point of the match was seen in the sixth game, when Brooksby saved a break point to tie the first set to three games apiece.
After saving a break point, Brooksby earned back-to-back breaks in the seventh and ninth games to win the first set. Down by a set, Ruud earned his first break of the match in the third game of the second set. However, Ruud’s second-set lead was short-lived as he got broken back in the fourth game.
In the 12th game – when Ruud was serving to stay in the second set – Brooksby broke the Norwegian to go up by two sets. After winning the second set, Brooksby opened a 5-2 lead in the third set. But when the moment came for Brooksby to serve out for the match, the American froze and missed out on three match points in the ninth game as Ruud managed to force a tie-break.
In the tie-break, Ruud opened a 4-0 lead before converting his fourth set point to force a fourth set. But after losing the third set in a devastating way, Brooksby started the fourth set with back-to-back breaks and a 3-0 lead.
Ruud got one break back in the fourth game but Brooksby again broke the Norwegian in the fifth game and then held on to his serve the rest of the match to clinch a four-set win.
