Amid the mixture of admiration and frustration for the Australian Open’s 4am finish to day four, the bigger news came at a much more reasonable time.
First, in the late afternoon, No.2 seed Casper Ruud was stunned by Jenson Brooksby – a 22-year-old American making his first main draw appearance at the Australian Open.
Then just a few hours later, Aussie wildcard Alexei Popyrin produced the greatest win for a local man at his home slam in 18 years, knocking No.8 seed Taylor Fritz out of the tournament.
And suddenly the night sky was dark, for all of the stars were already going home.
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In total 11 seeds were knocked out of the Australian Open on day four – six men and five women – including both No.2 seeds (Ons Jabeur exiting the women’s singles), and four of the top 14 men.
It’s the men’s side we need to focus on here, because this series of upsets has created a remarkable, wide-open draw that has almost guaranteed a piece of history.
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Of the eight men left in the entire bottom quarter of the draw, just one is seeded – Spain’s No.24 Roberto Bautista Agut, who had to come back from two sets down against American qualifier Brandon Holt.
Otherwise it’s a ragtag group, featuring five Americans (Ben Shelton, JJ Wolf, Michael Mmoh, Tommy Paul and the aforementioned Brooksby), an Aussie (Popyrin) and five-time Melbourne Park finalist Andy Murray.
And one of them will be an Australian Open semi-finalist in 2023.
As Nick Kyrgios quipped on Twitter, when he saw the contenders left in the quarter: “Nice little 250 (level tournament) going on”.
AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2023 – BOTTOM QUARTER LAST EIGHT
Alexei Popyrin (World No.113) v Ben Shelton (World No.89)
JJ Wolf (World No.67) v Michael Mmoh (World No.107)
Andy Murray (World No.66) v Roberto Bautista Agut (World No.25)
Tommy Paul (World No.35) v Jenson Brooksby (World No.39)
Unless Bautista Agut makes a run, whoever gets there will be the first unseeded AO semi-finalist since 2018, when both Kyle Edmund and Chung Hyeon made shocking runs to the last four.
Before them, you have to go back a decade, to when Jo-Wilfried Tsonga came from nowhere to make the final – and led Novak Djokovic by a set, before fading and losing in four.
But while Bautista Agut could spoil the unseeded semi-finalist fun, in section 7 of the draw – where seeds Fritz, Alex Zverev, Miomir Kecmanovic and Diego Schwartzman are all gone – we’re guaranteed a surprise.
That’s where Popyrin, Shelton, Wolf and Mmoh reside; and all can make history. Any would be the lowest-ranked Australian Open quarter-finalist since 2021, when Aslan Karatsev came through as a qualifier ranked No.114 – he went on to make the semis. But Popyrin and Mmoh could set another record.
Popyrin got into this tournament via a wildcard; Mmoh was a lucky loser, falling in the final round of qualifying but getting into the main draw when David Goffin pulled out hours before the start of the event.
Either man would be the first of their kind to make the Australian Open quarter-finals, because neither a wildcard nor a lucky loser has gotten there before.
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Perhaps this is the summer of the lucky loser, because barely a week ago, Korea’s Kwon Soon-Woo won the Adelaide International 2 after getting into the main draw as one.
“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,” Mmoh, the world No.107, said after beating Zverev on Thursday.
“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.”
Popyrin could also become the first Australian man to make the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park since Nick Kyrgios’ 2015 run.
There’s just one piece of the puzzle missing from all of this, because we haven’t discussed the final.
After all, if one of these men will make the semis, they’ll just be one match from the title-decider. And if this tournament has proven anything, it’s that anyone can win one match.
Well, here’s the thing. Their likely semi-final opponent… is Novak Djokovic.
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Unless Djokovic’s hamstring really does limit him, you’d suspect the nine-time champion will wipe the floor with whoever he faces in the last four.
Oh, and then Djokovic can’t face the No.1 seed in the final, because of course Rafa Nadal lost earlier this week.
Funny how the Serb’s luck has turned from last year to this one, isn’t it?
