Dane Sweeny Stuns Lorenzo Musetti at US Open
Dane Sweeny walked into Flushing Meadows as a wildcard and walked out on Friday as the man who tore a hole in the US Open draw.
The 170cm Australian, largely anonymous outside hardcore tennis circles, produced the match of his life to dismantle 14th seed Lorenzo Musetti 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 and storm into the third round of a grand slam for the first time.
This was no plucky, feel-good cameo. He bossed a top-20 player.
Sweeny’s giant-killing statement
Musetti, a dual grand slam semi-finalist and one of the sport’s most polished shot-makers, took the opening set and looked on course for a routine win. Sweeny refused to play that role.
Once he settled, the wildcard flipped the script. He started dragging Musetti into every corner of the court, changing pace, rushing the net, and turning rallies into lung-busting chases. The Italian’s fluid game unraveled under the weight of Sweeny’s relentlessness.
The pressure told early in the third set. Already down a double break at 0-3, Musetti slumped into his chair and called for a medical time-out, clearly in distress as the match slipped away. Even after clawing one break back, he spent changeovers remonstrating with his box, searching for answers that never came.
Sweeny just kept coming.
Despite sporting a heavy ice pack on his right elbow after his first-round win, the 25-year-old hurled himself around the court, diving at the net for full-blooded, Becker-esque volleys and landing them. Not just crowd-pleasers. Point-winners. Momentum killers.
By the time he closed it out, Sweeny had not only stunned a top seed, he had earned himself a minimum pay day of $US290,000 ($A402,750) and a rankings jump to a career-high 115 in the world, with the potential to climb higher.
He now earns a last-32 shot at another Italian, world No.22 Luciano Darderi, on Saturday (AEST). The stakes rise. So does the belief.
"I'm just grateful to be even able to compete in grand slams. The tennis journey is such a rollercoaster," Sweeny said. "And to soak up the atmosphere and get a win, a couple of wins, in front of this crowd, is awesome."
On this evidence, he’s not just soaking it up. He’s reshaping the tournament.
Schoolkate’s run halted in the heat
For a while, it looked like a golden morning for Australia in New York.
Tristan Schoolkate, who had battled through qualifying, snatched the opening set from French Open runner-up Flavio Cobolli and threatened to add his own chapter to the upset ledger. In the furnace of a scorching New York summer, he went toe-to-toe with the fifth seed.
Cobolli, though, showed why he sits near the top of the sport. He tightened his game, raised his first-serve percentage and began dictating from the baseline. Schoolkate kept swinging, but the Italian’s class and composure gradually took control.
After two hours and 41 minutes, Cobolli had worn him down 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5, ending a spirited Australian charge that had started days earlier in qualifying.
Popyrin edged out in tiebreak tension
On another court, Alexei Popyrin chased the memory of one of the best nights of his career. Two years ago, he had knocked out Novak Djokovic in the third round at this very tournament. A return to the last 32 beckoned again.
He began like a man determined to get there, ripping through the first set 6-2 against Chilean 25th seed Alejandro Tabilo. The serve was firing, the forehand was heavy, and the match felt on his racquet.
Then came the tiebreaks.
Tabilo held his nerve when the margins shrank. He edged the second-set breaker 7-4, then repeated the trick in the third 7-3, turning a one-set deficit into a stranglehold. With Popyrin deflated and the Chilean surging, the fourth set raced away 6-2.
The 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 scoreline sent Tabilo through to what shapes as a likely third-round meeting with German top seed Alexander Zverev, and left Popyrin once more a step short of the last 32 in New York.
De Minaur waiting in the wings
As the dust settled on Sweeny’s breakout, Schoolkate’s brave exit and Popyrin’s near-miss, attention turned to Australia’s standard-bearer.
Sixth seed Alex de Minaur was scheduled to face Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp on The Grandstand later in the day, stepping into a tournament already jolted by an Australian wildcard who refused to accept his place in the pecking order.
Sweeny has already redrawn one part of the map. The question now is how far this shockwave can travel through the men’s draw.
