Crazy Australian Open stat as the men’s draw collapses
The shocks continued in the men’s singles at the Australian Open with the bottom half of the draw all but collapsing on day three.
Day two say arguably the biggest shock of them all as defending champion Rafael Nadal crashed out to MacKenzie McDonald.
The Spaniard suffered a hip injury during the match and will be out for 6-8 weeks, but it was still a major upset.
However, that has proven to be just the start of the shocks, with Casper Ruud leading a number of big names to lose in the bottom half of the draw.
The second seed lost to Jenson Brooksby, meaning neither of the top two seeds will feature in round three for the first time in 20 years.
It hasn’t happened since 2002 when Lleyton Hewitt and Gustavo Kuerten both suffered early eliminations.
2002 – None of the first two top-seeded players (#1 Rafael Nadal and #2 Casper Ruud) will feature to the Third Round in Men's Singles at the Australian Open for the first time since 2002 (#1 Lleyton Hewitt and #2 Gustavo Kuerten). Shock.#AusOpen #AustralianOpen pic.twitter.com/WwScqEGtME
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) January 19, 2023
That allowed 16th seed Thomas Johansson to win it that year, becoming one of the most unlikeliest Grand Slam champions in modern history.
Ruud was not the only fancied player to lose on day three. Alexander Zverev’s Grand Slam frustrations continued with him losing to American qualifier Michael Mmoh.
Meanwhile, Taylor Fritz, who was the eighth seed and one of the most in-form players coming into the Australian Open, lost to a Australian wildcard Alexis Popyrin.
There was no luck for Diego Schwarztman either, with him losing in straight sets to J.J. Wolf.
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