By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday August 5, 2021
Rising American Jenson Brooksby continues his torrid tennis, defeating second-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime to reach the Citi Open quarterfinals.
Can’t stop, won’t stop. That’s the MO of 20-year-old Jenson Brooksby, a rising American that has parlayed a torrid run on the challenger circuit into a summer of breakout success on the ATP Tour.
Brooksby, who reached the final at the Hall of Fame Open in Newport in July, has reached the quarterfinal of his ATP-500 debut after notching a convincing 6-3, 6-4 victory over No.2 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime on Thursday at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C.
Brooksby told reporters after the match that he feels he can play with anybody on tour, and a lot of that has to do with the improvements he is making during practice.
"I think it's really just I really feel my game keep getting better in practice, I really do," he said. "And also I have gotten definitely mentally tougher this year, and it's only kept improving. I just really love, truly love playing in these stages. You know, no opponent will faze me. I can compete with anyone. This was a good, definitely a very good match today for me. I stayed real focused throughout. I didn't really have any lapses in my strategy or mental. I'm happy with that match."
Currently ranked 130, Brooksby could potentially crack the Top-100 if he can win his quarterfinal match in D.C. – he will face Australia’s John Millman on Friday.
The Sacramento native was dominating against Auger-Aliassime from start to finish, playing with punch off of both wings and using the partisan crowd to his advantage. He has already developed a reputation as a scrappy defender that never gives up on a point, but he proved on Thursday that he can use his deceptive power to dictate against a world-class opponent.
Brooksby cracked 23 winners against just 7 for Auger-Aliassime - against just five unforced errors.
"He did really good to keep on serving well, keep putting pressure on me," Auger-Aliassme concluded. "Honestly, I just felt like he was playing better and better as the match was going on. I didn't feel like I gave up on anything, but, yeah, he was playing good. Definitely a tricky player to keep an eye on."
Brooksby, who has a 5-3 record against the Top-100, earns his first career win over a Top-20 opponent against the World No.15.
More to follow...