American duo enters history books as Australian Open loses top-2 seeds Rafael Nadal and Casper Ruud

The Australian Open has seen the top two seeds in the men's singles category exit the tournament — Rafael Nadal and Casper Ruud. It marks the first occasion in over two decades that the season's first Slam will not have the two top-ranked players going into the third round.

The last occasion where both top-2 seeds exited the tournament early was back in 2002 — when the then No. 1 Leyton Hewitt and Guga Keurten lost their opening round matches.

Hewitt, who came into the 2002 Australian Open having lifted his second Grand Slam trophy in New York less than four months ago, bowed out to Spain's Alberto Martin in four sets in one of the biggest upsets in the tournament's history. Keurten, meanwhile, was ousted by Frenchman Julien Boutter in a five-set marathon.

Flashforward to 2022, the double blow to the tournament has come at the hands of American duo Mackenzie McDonald — who battled past Rafael Nadal on Wednesday, and Jenson Brooksby — who bested Casper Ruud the next day.

McDonald needed four sets to get the better of a subpar Nadal, who was battling a hip injury. The American, however, did exceptionally well to block out all that was unfolding on the other end of the court, going about his business as per usual.

The World no. 65 fired down 16 aces to dominate on serve, while also breaking Nadal on five occasions to close out the biggest win of his career 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 at the Rod Laver Arena.

Brooksby followed in his countryman's footsteps, showing immense grit to take out Ruud in four hotly-contested sets on the same show court. He prevailed 6-3, 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-2.

The latter's win marked the first occasion of an American duo knocking out the top-2 seeds at a Grand Slam since the 1994 Roland Garros — when Jim Courier and Aaron Krickstein took out Pete Sampras and Michael Stich in the quarterfinals and the second round respectively.

Former professional tennis player Brad Gilbert took to social media to acknowledge the same:

"Case u are wondering last time American men beat top 2 seeds at a slam 1994 @rolandgarros JC beat pistol Pete in the quarters and Krickstein beat #2 seed Stich 2nd rd." Brad Gilbert wrote on Twitter.

Mackenzie McDonald, Jenson Brooksby throw open Australian Open draw with Rafael Nadal, Casper Ruud wins

Mackenzie McDonald at the 2023 Australian Open.

Mackenzie McDonald and Jenson Brooksby's upset wins have thrown open their respective sections of the draw. The highest seed in McDonald's section of the draw now is his fellow countryman and 16th seed Frances Tiafoe.

For Jenson Brooksby, the biggest threat in his section now are unseeded threats in the form of Andy Murray and Tommy Paul. He takes on the latter in an exciting third-round encounter next.