Australian Open—Melbourne, Australia
A turbulent day at the year’s first Major saw a number of high profile seeds ousted in second round action.
Promising American Taylor Fritz was defeated by local hero Alexei Popyrin 6-7(4), 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-2, while unorthodox American Jenson Brooksby dismissed No. 2 Casper Ruud 6-3, 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-2.
On the women’s side, No. 2 seed Ons Jabeur was sent packing at the hands of Marketa Vondrousova 6-1, 5-7, 6-1.
Former nine-time winner Novak Djokovic progressed to the third round after a relative test against Enzo Couacaud, 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-0. Needing three hours and four minutes to advance, Djokovic hit nine aces, won 84 percent of his first serve points and broke serve on seven occasions.
Continuing to deal with a heavily taped left thigh, Djokovic will next face (27) Grigor Dimitrov, who dispatched Laslo Djere 6-3, 6-2, 6-0.
Elsewhere are on the men’s side, (5) Andrey Rublev, (9) Holger Rune, (22) Alex de Minaur, (24) Roberto Bautista and (25) Daniel Evans all advanced to third round action.
Men’s seeds who weren’t as lucky and were also ousted include: (12) Alexander Zverev, (14) Pablo Carreno Busta, (23) Diego Schwartzman, (30) Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
On the women’s side, (4) Caroline Garcia, (5) Aryna Sabalenka, and (12) Belinda Bencic all advanced to the next round.
Women’s seeds who were ousted in round two included: (9) Veronika Kudermetova, (16) Anett Kontaveit, and (27) Irina-Camelia Begu.
Friday’s action in Melbourne will include: Iga Swiatek, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Coco Gauff and Daniil Medvedev.
Second-round results:
Jenson Brooksby Defeats (2) Casper Ruud 63 75 67(4) 62
(4) Novak Djokovic Defeats Enzo Couacaud 61 67(5) 62 60
(5) Andrey Rublev Defeats Emil Ruusuvuori 62 64 67(2) 63
Alexei Popyrin Defeats (8) Taylor Fritz 67(4) 76(2) 64 67(6) 62
(9) Holger Rune Defeats Maxime Cressy 75 64 64
Michael Mmoh Defeats (12) Alexander Zverev 67(1) 64 63 62
Benjamin Bonzi Defeats (14) Pablo Carreno Busta 46 46 76(5) 61 76(4)
(22) Alex de Minaur Defeats Adrian Mannarino 76(3) 46 64 61
J.J. Wolf Defeats (23) Diego Schwartzman 61 64 64
(24) Roberto Bautista Agut Defeats Brandon Holt 46 26 63 62 62
(25) Daniel Evans Defeats Jeremy Chardy 64 64 61
(27) Grigor Dimitrov Defeats Laslo Djere 63 62 60
Tommy Paul Defeats (30) Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 62 26 67(4) 63 64
Ugo Humbert Defeats Denis Kudla 62 67(5) 62 64
Ben Shelton Defeats Nicolas Jarry 76(3) 76(3) 75
