Five-set fever: Casper Ruud, Alexander Zverev, Cam Norrie escape Australian Open upset bids

Three men’s seeds in the bottom quarter of the Australian Open were put on the ropes Thursday in Melbourne. All three found a way to escape with narrow five-set victories in hand.

Three-time major finalist Casper Ruud was the first to survive, edging out local hopeful Max Purcell, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (10-7).

The Norwegian had missed a match point in the 10^th game of his decider on Purcell’s serve, but ultimately recovered. The Australian didn’t go away quietly in the match tie-break, cutting Ruud’s 7-2 lead to a single point until the No. 11 seed pulled away to the finish line.

“What can I say? I think it was an incredible match, honestly. It could have gone both ways,” Ruud said on court. “Max is such a tricky and good player. He’s taken his tennis to a new level the past year.

“He made it really hard for me.”

With the victory, Ruud avenged last year’s defeat on hard courts in Cincinnati and avoided going out at this stage of the tournament for the second year running, having been ousted by Jenson Brooksby 12 months earlier. The 25-year-old is now 5-0 on the young season following a promising display at the United Cup and meets No. 19 seed Cameron Norrie for a place in the round of 16.

Norrie was forced to battle from two sets down against qualifier Giulio Zeppieri. After dropping the first two sets, the former Wimbledon semifinalist did not lose his serve again in the contest—saving a key break point at 1-2 in the deciding set. He broke his 133^rd-ranked opponent to put the match on his racquet and then served out the 3-6, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 victory.

“I think it's just a good lesson to learn that I can play with a few distractions going on. I think that was the biggest thing, just mentally having to block that out and focus on playing and trying to play my game,” Norrie reflected in his press conference.

The highest seed in their section of the draw, No. 6 Alexander Zverev, also nearly saw his campaign ended by an inspired qualifier after four hours and 37 minutes of grueling play.

Down two sets to one to Lukas Klein, the German later trailed by a mini break in their fourth-set tiebreaker before forcing a fifth set. There, he wasted a break advantage as Klein worked the John Cain Arena crowd. Finding himself in a decisive match tie-break at the same time as Ruud, Zverev was deadlocked at 7-7 with Klein. His experience ultimately made the difference in the high-pressure situation against the more assertive competitor of the clash in securing a 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (10-7) win.

“He played extremely well. He played very, very aggressive, hitting every single ball as hard as he could from both sides, I feel like,” Zverev told press.
“A lot of the times I was a spectator in the match. I was just witnessing whether he's going to hit a winner or miss.That's not a nice feeling to be in, especially in the important moments, but I'm happy that I managed to win.”

Rising American Alex Michelsen will look to play spoiler to the two-time ATP Finals champion come Saturday. The 19-year-old achieved his best major result when he knocked out No. 32 seed Jiri Lehecka.

The Czech came in with a hot hand after lifting his first trophy in Adelaide, but it was Michelsen who proved the cleaner hitter of the two over two hours and 50 minutes. Creating twice as many break point chances as Lehecka, the Aliso Viejo, Calif. native went on to advance, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

Later, Miomir Kecmanovic staved off two match points to topple No. 24 seed Jan-Lennard Struff, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-6 (11-9). The remarkable effort came after the Serbian missed a trio of match points in the 12th game, as Kecmanovic claimed the final four points to stun the German.

The win sets up a third-round showdown with 2023 semifinalist Tommy Paul. The No. 14 seed nearly joined the five-set trend, but erased three set points when he served to Jack Draper at 4-5 in their fourth set. Paul hung tough and finished off the lefty in a rematch of last week’s Adelaide quarterfinal won by the Brit.