WHAT HAPPENED: In between the third and fourth sets, American Jenson Brooksby was down on the court being treated by the trainer for a hip injury, and his chances of reaching the US Open Round of 16 looked to be down and out. He even mouthed to his coach at one point that he couldn’t move.
Brooksby toughed out the pain, and with the help of the partisan Court 17 crowd, toughed out an inspiring 6-2, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over No. 21 seed Aslan Karatsev to advance to the second week of the US Open. Using his variety of shots—including a number of deft topspin lobs and slices—and excellent court coverage, Brooksby kept the hard-hitting Russian off-balance for the majority of the match, and found an extra gear after losing the third set (and calling for a medical timeout afterward) to step up his eclectic game.
“I'm proud of battling my adversity, whether it's my own head or what's going on out there on the court,” Brooksby said. “I mean, today was a battle, obviously.”
Brooksby quickly shook off any nerves after being broken in the first game of the match as he broke Karatsev on his first two service games in opening up a 4-1 lead. The Sacramento-born American hit only one winner in the first set, but the paucity of unforced errors (five) and changing of pace with his shot selection forced Karatsev into 16 unforced errors in the set.
It got better for the American, going up 3-1 in the second set, before Karatsev rolled off five consecutive games to level the match. The third set was when Brooksby looked to wear down against the punishing baseline groundstrokes of Karatsev. Late in the set, Brooksby started to grab at his left hip area, grimacing repeatedly after a number of points where he stretched out for shots.
Both players held on their first three service games of the fourth set, but then Karatsev, who lost a total of two points in his trio of service games, blinked first when he threw in his first double-fault of the match at 30-40 to hand Brooksby a 4-3 lead. Brooksby won the final two games of the fourth set, then broke Karatsev in the fourth game of the fifth set to take control. Once again, the break, which put Brooksby up 3-1, came on a Karatsev double-fault. Brooksby held his nerve and held in his final three service games, sending the Court 17 crowd into delirium.
“[The] crowd played a big role, definitely. Them chanting, cheering me on, it gave me a lot of energy to come back down two sets to one,” Brooksby said about coming back to win the final two sets. “It was a rough couple of sets. Whether it was just my group, even friends I had here, the whole crowd in general with the full stadium, it was great to see them behind me. I really enjoyed that.”
WHAT IT MEANS: Brooksby, 20, becomes the youngest American man to reach the Round of 16 at the US Open since a 20-year-old Andy Roddick made the quarterfinals of the 2002 US Open before losing to eventual champion Pete Sampras. After almost four hours of grueling tennis on Court 17, Brooksby will surely be in for another grind in his next match: a showdown with No. 1 Novak Djokovic, almost assuredly in Arthur Ashe Stadium. If nothing else, Brooksby will go into the match with a whole lot of self-confidence, even if he is not 100 percent physically by the time Labor Day rolls around.
“I believe I have the game definitely to go all the way,” Brooksby said when asked about his expectations going into this year’s US Open. “I didn't doubt that in my own mind. I didn't put any expectations like [reaching] a second week or anything. I don't really think like that. But I do have the confidence in myself that I can go really far in whatever tournament I play. Yeah, obviously the next one's another big match, but I just try to prepare the same as all the others and try to give the best I can.”
MATCH POINT: Brooksby spoiled Karatsev’s day in more ways than one, as it happened to be Karatsev’s 28th birthday on Saturday. Even with the missed opportunity to advance to the Round of 16 at the US Open, the year has been a rousing success overall for the Russian—starting the year outside the Top 100 (No. 112), Karatsev reached the semifinals of the Australian Open, won his first ATP Tour-level title (Dubai) and ascended to the Top 25 in the world, all in the span of eight months.
