Eight American men are into the Australian Open's third round for the first time in 27 years

PRESS CONFERENCE: Jenson Brooksby, following his upset of No. 2 seed Casper Ruud

It’s been a great Australian Open for American men: Eight have reached the third round, the most to advance that far since 1996.

Most pleasing are the various ways these eight go about winning points. In recent years, it appeared that the American men’s playing style was being narrowly and largely defined by big serves and powerful forehands. Not that those tools are liabilities. They’re just not always as fun to watch and, in many situations, can prove limited.

But these current eight go about tennis quite differently. Here’s a closer look at America’s Australian Open Class of ’23.

The Leading Man: Frances Tiafoe

In the wake of Taylor Fritz’s second-round exit, the 17th-ranked Tiafoe is America’s leading title contender. Tiafoe will turn 25 on Friday; four years ago, on his 21st birthday, he first reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal in Melbourne. With an affinity for high-stakes competition, Tiafoe has been exciting and effective thus far. He’s also been candid, explaining his struggles following that breakthrough quarterfinal run.

Speaking after a straight-set, second-round win over Shang Juncheng, Tiafoe said, “Got complacent, not doing the work, being lax on a lot of different things, on the details, and it hurt me. . . I’m so much more focused and just really want it.”

Next up for the No. 16 seed is the No. 18 seed, Karen Khachanov. Interestingly, their only two prior matches came in the third round of Wimbledon, in 2018 and 2021 Khachanov won both of them, in ‘18 rallying from two sets down.

The Veteran: Mackenzie McDonald

At 27, McDonald is the oldest of the eight. Discipline, balance, excellent footspeed and relentlessly accurate groundstrokes have helped him build a solid pro career. Throughout his breakthrough win over Rafael Nadal, McDonald asserted himself boldly, repeatedly taking away time and space by hitting his forehand and backhand early to the corners.

“I'm very happy with how I competed in the first couple of sets and executed the game plan,” said McDonald afterward. “I feel like I'm working really well with my coach, Robby [Ginepri], and he gave me a good game plan. I stuck to it and…didn't kind of go in any fear or anything, and I had a good belief there. So I'm happy with how I executed.”

Seeking to reach the round of 16 at a major for third time, McDonald faces 31st-seeded Yoshihito Nishioka. As can happen in tennis, the Nishioka match is arguably more complicated for McDonald than when he faced Nadal. In the latter, McDonald was a heavy underdog, an essentially pressure-free situation. Nishioka, on the other hand, is only a slight favorite. And though Nishioka has won three of their previous four meetings, including one earlier this month in Adelaide, the match-up of these two highly focused all-courters should be quite competitive.

Headed Towards the Rich Phase: Sebastian Korda, Jenson Brooksby, Tommy Paul

An eclectic trio of stylists, these three also play quite differently from one another and appear poised to enter a rich period of excellent, sustainable tennis.

To a certain degree, Korda’s game has similarities to Pete Sampras’: silky smooth, relaxed, free-swinging. But he also has his own set of distinct assets, including a powerful two-handed backhand. And while the Korda serve is not in the extremely rare territory Sampras’ occupied, it’s shown signs of improvement. Korda will need every ounce of those skills versus his next opponent, Daniil Medvedev. Their only previous meeting came in 2021, at the Masters 1000 event in Paris. Korda took the first set, 6-4, only to lose the next two, 6-1, 6-3.

Right from the start of his career, Brooksby’s tactical guile has impressed the tennis world. His mix of speeds spins, and precision was richly on display versus second-seeded Casper Ruud. Despite seeing three match points vanish in the third set, Brooksby went on to win, 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-2.

“I was getting a little more frustrated out there that I didn't close it out, and my mentality was changing a little bit,” said Brooksby. “You know, those are the situations you have to handle sometimes in matches, and you're going to face. I think the biggest question is how do you respond. I just told myself to reset, keep doing what I was doing in the start of the fourth, and just not let the end of the third just change how I play going forward.”

Said Ruud, “He was annoyingly good today.”

While Brooksby beat a very accomplished competitor, Paul got past a very tricky one. Over the course of three hours and 50 minutes, Paul rallied versus 30th-seeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, 6-2, 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-4. It wasn’t easy. Davodich Fokina is fast and his technique and shot selection choices make it difficult to anticipate where his ball is going. But Paul deployed a full set of skills – big serves, rushing the net, powerful drives—to reach the third round of a major for the fourth time.

Paul and Brooksby will now play each other. Their only prior match came last summer in Cincinnati, Paul winning, 6-3, 6-2. The style contrast—Paul’s range of aggression, Brooksby’s persistently clicking mind—will make for many engaging rallies.

The Emerging Contenders: Ben Shelton, J.J. Wolf

These two men each played college tennis, Shelton at the University of Florida. Wolf at Ohio State. So what if their arrival on the pro scene was therefore a bit later than others? Pay attention instead to each man’s electric brand of tennis.

Shelton has soared like a supernova. Ranked 433 as recently as last July, he’s now risen to 89. Last year’s NCAA champion, Shelton is an aggressive lefthander, eager to charge forward and close out points. He’s already generated plenty of excitement Down Under. In the first round, Shelton beat Zhizhen Zhang in a fifth-set tiebreaker. He followed that up nicely in his next match versus Nicolas Jarry, taking charge when it mattered most to win in straight sets, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3), 7-5.

The 67th-ranked Wolf’s second-round match versus Diego Schwartzman shaped up as one of those career rites of passage. Could the ascending youngster, a Top 100 player only since August, take out the rough-and-tumble veteran? What would more notably tell the story, serves or nerves? With scarcely a blink, Wolf answered every question, taking less than two hours to beat Schwartzman, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4. Among the highlights: 42 percent of Wolf’s serves were unreturnable, including 16 aces.

Next up for Wolf is a first-time meeting versus a fellow American, whom we’ll get to now.

The Fortunate Son: Michael Mmoh

As the child of a former pro who’d been ranked as high as 105, Mmoh received a first-rate tennis education. But he’s also attended what you could also call tennis’ school of hard knocks.

The first major Mmoh played was the 2016 US Open. He was 18 then, with all the hopes associated with a talented teenager. But in ten appearances at the majors before this week, Mmoh had only won three matches.

Currently ranked 107th, Mmoh got into the main draw this year as a lucky loser. Amazingly, Mmoh had already booked his flight home, killing time watching an NFL playoff game, when he received word that he was in the main draw and scheduled to play that afternoon.

“I literally just grabbed my bag, grabbed a bunch of match clothes,” said Mmoh. “Luckily everything was kind of in there already. Went straight to the site.”

And in just two rounds, it’s been an incredible ride. It began with Mmoh fighting from two sets and match point down to beat Laurent Lokoli, 4-6, 2-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4, 6-2. Next came the win of Mmoh’s life, a four-set victory over the 12th seed, Alexander Zverev.

“I don't know if I'm going to finally wake up or something,” said Mmoh. “It just doesn't seem real. Like, the past 48 hours has been a complete whirlwind from going from being ready to go back home, booking a flight, packing my bags. I was supposed to leave yesterday. Now I'm here, and I just had the best win of my career. It just doesn't seem real. The two change of events is just insane.”