Casper Ruud's Australian Open campaign ended with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 loss to Ben Shelton in the fourth round on Monday night. However, the three-time grand slam finalist had a more pressing concern: his wife Maria is pregnant and due to give birth this weekend.
Ruud had stated repeatedly that he would withdraw from the tournament and fly home to Norway if Maria went into labour. 'If I get the call, if she goes into labour I’ll jump on the first flight home for sure,' he said last week. The silver lining of his defeat is that he can now return home without any conflict.
Despite a solid start, Ruud was outplayed by the seventh seed Shelton, who won 29 of his 30 net points and served devastatingly. The American's victory sets up a quarter-final clash with top seed Jannik Sinner, who defeated Luciano Darderi 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 (2).
The first nine days of the tournament have seen unprecedented dominance by top seeds, with all top six men's and women's seeds reaching the quarter-finals for the first time in the Open era. Novak Djokovic advanced without playing after Jakub Mensik withdrew due to injury.
In the women's draw, Iga Swiatek cruised past Maddison Inglis 6-0, 6-3, setting up a quarter-final against Elena Rybakina. Other notable quarter-finals include Aryna Sabalenka vs Iva Jovic and Coco Gauff vs Elina Svitolina.
