Dane Sweeny's Stunning Upset at the US Open
Dane Sweeny, all 170 centimetres of him, walked into Flushing Meadows as a wildcard and walked out of Thursday with the biggest win of his life.
The 25-year-old Australian, ranked more than 100 places below Lorenzo Musetti, tore into the 14th seed 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 in a ferocious second-round boilover that jolted the US Open and rewrote his own career ceiling in a single afternoon.
A lightweight with heavyweight intent
On paper, this was a mismatch. Musetti, a dual grand slam semi-finalist with deep runs at Wimbledon and Roland Garros over the past two years. Sweeny, a diminutive battler still grinding for a foothold on the main tour.
For one set, the script held. Musetti’s clean ball-striking and superior pedigree carried the opener 6-3, and it looked like the Italian would move through with minimal fuss.
Then Sweeny flipped the match on its head.
He began to attack with fearless abandon, stepping inside the baseline, rushing the net, and dragging Musetti into rallies he didn’t want. The second set raced away 6-1, the Australian buzzing around the court, chasing everything, turning defence into ambush.
The pressure told again in the third. Sweeny broke twice to surge 3-0 ahead, sending Musetti into visible distress. The Italian called for a medical time-out, looking spent and rattled as the underdog ran him relentlessly from corner to corner.
Even when Musetti clawed one break back, the match had shifted. He barked in frustration towards his box, arms flailing, unable to stem the tide as Sweeny kept coming, point after suffocating point.
Diving volleys and a career-changing night
Sweeny’s right elbow was strapped with a huge ice pack after his first-round win, but you would not have guessed it from the way he threw himself around the net. He dived like Boris Becker for acrobatic volleys, turned low, awkward balls into winners, and played with the kind of freedom only a true outsider can summon on a grand slam stage.
The scoreline tightened only briefly. The reality was harsher: Musetti was being bossed. Sweeny swept through the third and fourth sets 6-2, 6-2, sealing not just the upset of the day, but a personal breakthrough that could reshape his season.
The reward is enormous. A first-ever appearance in the third round of a grand slam. A guaranteed pay day of $US290,000. A projected leap to a career-high ranking around No 115 in the world, with room to climb further.
And, crucially, another shot at an Italian. On Saturday (AEST), Sweeny will face world No 22 Luciano Darderi for a place in the last 16.
“I’m just grateful to be even able to compete in grand slams. The tennis journey is such a rollercoaster,” he said. “And to soak up the atmosphere and get a win, a couple of wins, in front of this crowd, is awesome.”
On Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong, stars are expected. On the outside courts, stories like Sweeny’s are discovered.
Schoolkate’s run ends in the heat
For a while, it looked like Sweeny might not be the only Australian surprise in the last 32.
Tristan Schoolkate, who battled his way through qualifying, kept his dream run alive by snatching the opening set against French Open runner-up Flavio Cobolli. Under New York’s brutal summer sun, the fifth seed found himself in a real scrap.
Schoolkate swung freely, took risks, and nicked the first set 6-3 to rattle the Italian. But Cobolli settled, tightened his game, and gradually asserted his class. The next three sets told the story of a higher-ranked player absorbing the blow and then taking control: 6-3, 6-4, 7-5.
After two hours and 41 minutes, the Australian’s resistance finally cracked. The run from qualifying was over, but not before he had left a mark on the draw.
Popyrin pushed out in tiebreak tension
On another court, Alexei Popyrin tried to rekindle memories of his famous upset of Novak Djokovic in the third round two years ago. The stage was familiar. The outcome was not.
Facing Chilean 25th seed Alejandro Tabilo, Popyrin came out blazing. He ripped through the first set 6-2, striking the ball with authority and looking every bit the man who had once toppled a legend here.
Then came the fine margins.
Tabilo steadied, dragged the contest into two knife-edge tiebreaks, and won both – 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-3). Each breaker turned on a handful of points, and each time it was the Chilean who held his nerve when the rallies tightened and the pressure rose.
By the fourth set, the momentum had swung decisively. Popyrin’s level dipped, Tabilo surged, and the match closed out 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-3), 6-2. The Chilean now stands on the brink of a likely third-round clash with top seed Alexander Zverev.
Two years after shocking Djokovic, Popyrin again exits before the last 32, this time left to wonder what might have been if either tiebreak had gone his way.
De Minaur waiting in the wings
While the underdogs took centre stage, Australia’s standard-bearer waited his turn.
Sixth seed Alex de Minaur was scheduled to face Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp on The Grandstand after Schoolkate’s match, a different kind of assignment for a player now expected to go deep at majors rather than spring surprises.
Sweeny, though, has already supplied the upset Australia didn’t know it was waiting for.
On a day when one qualifier ran out of steam and another shot-maker fell in tiebreaks, the smallest man in the fight produced the biggest punch. Now the question is simple: was this Sweeny’s moment in the New York sun, or the start of something far larger than anyone imagined when his name appeared as a wildcard in the draw?
