World No. 9 Taylor Fritz was stunned by the 23-year-old Aussie wild card, Alexei Popyrin, in a match that lasted a staggering four hours and two minutes. With three of the five sets extending to tie-breaks, and the Aussie missing out on a match point to close out in the fourth set, the enthusiastic Australian crowd at the John Cain Arena gave added support to their countryman to pull through in the encounter and register a hard-fought 6-7(7), 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-7(8), 6-2 victory.
After successfully overcoming Taylor Fritz, who was one of the favorites to win the Australian Open title, Alexei Popyrin couldn’t contain his excitement and joined the roaring crowd in the celebrations.
In an on-court interview, the Aussie thanked his people for their support and stated that they made the victory possible. The undying cheers from the crowd brought the 23-year-old to tears.
Ranked No. 113 in the world, the 23-year-old further touched upon his loss of form during a tough 2022 season.
Speaking about the toil and efforts that led him to the victory against Fritz, the former World No. 59 said that the fear of facing the same fate as in 2022 is what kept him going.
Alexei Popyrin’s victory over Taylor Fritz is one of the many upsets of Day 4 of the 2023 Australian Open
Taylor Fritz’s loss to Alexei Popyrin hasn’t been the only upset on Day 4 of the 2023 Australian Open thus far.
Among the men’s seeded players, World No. 3 Casper Ruud suffered a shock four-sets defeat to American Jenson Brooksby 6-3, 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-2.
Also among those that were knocked off was former World No. 2 Alexander Zverev, who lost to American Michael Mmoh 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.
Additionally, No. 23 seed Diego Schwartzman and No. 30 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina were dismissed by Americans J.J. Wolf and Tommy Paul, respectively.
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