In the final exchange, when the two men met at the net after four hours of drilling into the corners, second-seeded Casper Ruud rifled a thumping winner, something he was struggling to do for much of the second-round Australian Open clash.
The Norwegian summed up his opponent American Jenson Brooksby, laying out the indices. "I said, well played," Ruud said with a smile, adding, he was annoyingly good today."
