Americans Jenson Brooksby and Taylor Fritz will be in Australian Open second-round action on Wednesday, with Brooksby taking on No. 2 seed Casper Ruud and Fritz battling Aussie wild card Alexei Popyrin.
(2) Casper Ruud vs. Jenson Brooksby
This is a tricky second-round match for French Open and U.S. Open finalist Casper Ruud. The world No. 3 has looked just a bit vulnerable coming into this event. He won just one match in two tournaments and he dropped a set in the opening round this week to Tomas Machac, the world No. 115 from the Czech Republic. Ruud has built his game around consistency, but it’s going to be a big jump from the likes of Machac to his next opponent.
Jenson Brooksby, the world No. 39 and occasional tennis villain, has had a good start to the season. He played Auckland for his warmup event and advanced to the semifinals before he bowed out to Cameron Norrie. When he’s playing well, Brooksby has a delightful game full of creativity and just unconventional enough to keep his opponents guessing.
Brooksby dropped the first set to Aussie Christopher O’Connell in his Melbourne opener, but he won the next three sets with ease to set up this clash with Ruud. This is a winnable match for the American; he has the kind of game that could throw Ruud off on a hard court. The No. 2 seed has a 1-0 record over Brookby, but that win came on clay. But the underdog will have to play well consistently enough to take three sets from Ruud, which is no easy feat.
Cheryl pick: Ruud in 5
Ricky pick: Brooksby in 4
(8) Taylor Fritz vs. (WC) Alexei Popyrin
Taylor Fritz looks like he means business in Melbourne. The United States’ top-ranked man had a competitive win over Nikiloz Basilashvili in the first round and came into the Australian Open off an impressive showing at the United Cup, where he led Team USA to victory. Fritz won three titles in 2022, but he is still looking for a breakthrough at a major.
Fritz’s second-round opponent, Alexei Popyrin, spent four hours and 26 minutes on court in the first round. He and Chun-Hsin Tseng played five relatively messy sets before Popyrin finally prevailed. The Australian wild card is almost certainly going to have some fatigue to deal with following his efforts on Tuesday.
With Fritz’s form so far in 2023 and Popyrin’s five-setter in the first round, this one should be routine for the favorite.
Cheryl pick: Fritz in 3
Ricky pick: Fritz in 3
WWW?
Brooksby in 5 and Fritz in 4