Dane Sweeny Achieves Major Upset at US Open

Dane Sweeny walked onto court chasing a chance. He walked off with the biggest win of his life.

The 25-year-old from Penrith, ranked No.123 in the world and once on the brink of giving the sport away, stunned 13th seed Lorenzo Musetti to surge into the US Open third round – and into a new financial reality. The result locks in at least $402,000 in prize money, more than doubling his earnings for the year and pushing his career total past the $1 million mark.

For a player who briefly stepped away from tennis because the results simply weren’t coming, this was vindication in its purest form.

“Tennis can change at the flip of a coin, you’ve just got to keep persevering, and that’s what I did,” Sweeny said, reflecting on the journey that led him to this stage.

He spoke of long stretches without wins, of trusting the “law of probability” that the tide would eventually turn if he just kept going. Two months away from the sport once felt like a necessary escape. Coming back, he now says, was “the best decision I ever made.”

On court, in the immediate afterglow, the emotion caught up with him. Almost lost for words, he tried to explain what it meant.

“I’m so grateful to be able to compete in grand slams, I put a lot of work in,” he said, soaking in the noise. “Tennis [is] such a rollercoaster, I’m so incredibly grateful to play in front of this crowd, and to soak up the win... it’s awesome.”

Musetti battled, but the Italian seed was clearly hampered as the match wore on. Sweeny still had to do the hard part: hold his nerve, keep his level, and close the door on a top-20 player on one of the sport’s biggest stages. He did it with authority, turning what began as a hopeful opportunity into a statement performance.

While Sweeny’s breakthrough lit up the day for the Australian contingent, it unfolded against a backdrop of bruising contests and brutal swings of momentum elsewhere.

Tristan Schoolkate vs. Flavio Cobolli

Tristan Schoolkate, backing up barely 24 hours after a straight-sets win over Italian qualifier Andrea Guerrieri, found himself dragged into a war with another Italian, No.5 seed Flavio Cobolli. Schoolkate had hoped the quick win over Guerrieri meant he’d conserved enough energy to last. For a long time, it looked like he might just find a way.

At 5-5 in the fourth set, the match hung on a knife’s edge. Then came the crack.

Schoolkate grabbed the first point of the game, but Cobolli tightened the screws. Two forced errors – one forehand missing the line by a whisker – opened the door. Cobolli barged through it with back-to-back winners to secure the crucial break. Moments later, serving for the match, the Italian set himself, went out wide, and detonated a booming serve on his very first match point. Job done.

If there was a rabbit to be pulled from the hat, Schoolkate couldn’t quite find it. He was brave, he chased, he pushed, but Cobolli was simply too sharp when it mattered and finished things quickly. The handshake at the net told its own story: warm, genuine, two competitors who had emptied the tank.

Alexei Popyrin vs. Alejandro Tabilo

On another court, Alexei Popyrin and Alejandro Tabilo were locked in a different kind of struggle – a serving shootout laced with tension. Popyrin flew out of the blocks, taking the first set 6-2. Then the match twisted.

Tabilo edged the next two sets in tiebreaks, each with a familiar, painful scoreline for the Australian. Suddenly Popyrin, who had been dictating early, found himself chasing. The fourth set settled into a tight, nervy rhythm, both men holding serve as the pressure built.

Popyrin’s numbers told a strange story. He had already fired down 22 aces and was landing 70 per cent of his first serves, the kind of base that usually spells dominance. Yet he was winning only 72 per cent of points behind that first delivery. Tabilo, by contrast, was up at 85 per cent on his own first serve, refusing to yield an inch.

On-serve deep in the fourth, the match looked destined to go the distance, a five-set grind that would test legs, lungs, and belief.

For the Australians, it was that kind of day in New York. A slog here, heartbreak there, and, in Sweeny’s case, a life-changing breakthrough. One left wondering what might have been, another still fighting in a marathon, and one suddenly staring at a very different future.

For Dane Sweeny, the question now is no longer whether he belongs at this level. It’s how far this surge of belief can carry him in a draw that has just been blown wide open.