2023 Australian Open: Twitter reacts as Felix Auger-Aliassime crashes out in second round

The 22-year-old Auger-Aliassime won the first set in 35 minutes after breaking in the third game, but an enormous shift in momentum allowed the unseeded Lehecka to seize the initiative.

Felix Auger-Aliassime in a file photo (Image Credits: twitter)
By Nilavro Ghosh | Jan 22, 2023 | 3 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

On Sunday, Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime of France, the sixth seed, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(2), and 7-6(3) to advance to the Australian Open quarterfinals. With yet another prominent player having retired, the Grand Slam was lacking in star power for the second week in a row. Casper Ruud, the second seed, and other title contenders like Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev all lost their matches early, paving the way for Auger-Aliassime to advance at Melbourne Park. But he came up against a motivated Lehecka, who had previously defeated 11th seed Cameron Norrie. The Czech said he is just getting started and will face either Stefanos Tsitsipas or Jannik Sinner for a spot in the semi-final.

“The run is not over,” Lehecka said. “All the guys I have beaten here are incredible and I’ve played my best tennis to show all the cards I have to beat them. It sounds crazy, but its true and I’m happy to continue the journey.”

The 22-year-old Auger-Aliassime won the first set in 35 minutes after breaking in the third game, but an enormous shift in momentum allowed the unseeded Lehecka to seize the initiative. After taking the second set to tie the score, Lehecka held serve to force a third-set tiebreak where he took advantage of errors made by 2022 quarterfinalist Auger-Aliassime to win. In the fourth set tie-break, the 21-year-old Lehecka picked up another gear to go up 6-3 before eliminating Auger-Aliassime with a superb passing shot. With a first Grand Slam quarterfinal and a first victory over a top-10 player in sight, Lehecka stepped it up another gear.

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“Honestly it feels amazing,” Lehecka added. “It’s tough to find words because of what we’ve been through in the last year and coming back after losing the first round (in 2022). If someone told me I would play like this I would not believe them.”

Here is how Twitter reacted to the sixth seed’s shocking exit

Ruud falls to Brooksby

Casper Ruud’s motivation was high at the Australian Open this year. The Norwegian would have become the first player to reach No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings if he had won his first Grand Slam title in Melbourne. The second seed, who was defeated by American Jenson Brooksby in the second round on Thursday in four sets, will now have to wait for both.

“It’s a tough matchup for me and I know it’s going to be for many years probably,” Ruud said when reflecting on his defeat. “I will try to learn from it. I think that he played great today. I mean, didn’t make many errors at all. I didn’t feel like I played particularly bad or not at the level that I wanted to play, but he just ended up winning many of the longer rallies and had an answer to all the questions that I asked him.”

The two had previously faced off in Rome last year, with Ruud winning in straight sets. This was their second encounter. Though the American dominated the longer rallies, Brooksby’s quirky game gave the World No. 3 far more difficulty during their matchup at the hard-court major.





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