Australian Dane Sweeny’s giant-killing run at the US Open is over as the 25-year-old wildcard fell to 21st seed Luciano Darderi in straight sets in New York on Sunday morning Australian time.
After stunning Darderi’s countryman, 13th seed Lorenzo Musetti, in the second round, Sweeny, who complained of a hip issue, was unable to recreate his heroics to set up a likely final 16 date with top seed Alexander Zverev as the Italian prevailed 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 on Court 5.
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“It’s been an amazing week, a career-changing week, but I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed just with today’s performance,” Sweeny said.
“I just wasn’t really feeling it, just not really feeling the timing and the rhythm as I have been. I just made a lot of cheap errors and that was quite frustrating.
“I was okay to lose a match, but I really wanted to test him more and bring a good level so I could make an absolute fight out of it.
“Win or lose, I wanted to really make him work for the victory at least and I wasn’t able to do that.”
Sweeny, who had never won a grand slam match before defeating French veteran Gael Monfils at the Australian Open earlier this year, picks up a career-best US$290,000 (A$402,830) in prize money for his third-round run at Flushing Meadows, which also included downing Frenchman Corentin Moutet, who made the fourth round in 2022.
“The financial side of things, that will help with coaching and people you travel with,” he said of the prize money.
In a post on her Instagram story before the match began, Sweeny’s sister, Emma, shared that “for my little brother, it has never been about the money”.
“If it was, he probably would have given up years ago,” she added.
“A few years ago, Dane had a GoFundMe set up just to help him continue pursuing his tennis career. My parents haven’t come from money, but they have sacrificed and given everything they possibly could to keep his dream alive.
“Dane couldn’t afford a proper coach until this year. For all those years, my dad was his coach. Dad had never played tennis himself, but he sold his business for peanuts, gave up so much and did everything he could because he believed in his son and his dream.
“Dane has been playing tennis since he was two years old. Just over a year ago, he was around No.680 in the world. Today he is No.109.
“So when I see a post about the prize money, I don’t really see the money. I see 22 years of chasing a dream. The sacrifices. The setbacks. The financial stress, and a kid who just never stopped believing he could do it.
“Such a reminder to never stop chasing your dreams, no matter how impossible they might feel.
“This is only the beginning, Dane 😭❤️🎾🇦🇺”
The world No.123 is also set to climb to 109th in the world rankings after being Australia’s last man standing in New York following Alex de Minaur’s shock second round exit.
Sweeny only gained a last-minute wildcard to make his US Open main draw debut after countryman Alexei Popyrin withdrew, but if he can rise into the top 100 by year’s end, there will be no need for a wildcard, or qualifying, for January’s Australian Open.
“That’s exciting too. But that will take care of itself,” Sweeny said.
“It’s hard not to worry about that because we’re indoctrinated to want that low number next to our name, but I can just focus on working hard, focus on improving.
“Particularly just staying really kind to myself and trying to enjoy the journey.”
Meanwhile, two-time US Open champion Naomi Osaka survived another erratic outing, beating Belgian Elise Mertens 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 on Saturday to reach the US Open fourth round.
Osaka had 41 unforced errors, her backhand in particular letting her down as she was unable to build on a comfortable first set for the second straight match.
“I’m literally shocked that I won this match,” Osaka, seeded 13th, told an adoring crowd in Louis Armstrong Stadium.
“There was a certain point where I felt like I put my entire heart on the court. I just kept trying every point.” After an early exchange of breaks in the second set, Osaka failed to convert a pair of chances and Mertens broke again for a 5-3 lead.
Osaka gifted the Belgian two break points with a double fault, saving one with a forehand winner before sailing a backhand wide.
Mertens finally took the set when Osaka dumped a backhand into the net. Mertens kept the pressure on in the third and was rewarded with a break for a 3-2 lead, aided by a string of backhand errors from Osaka.
Osaka was clearly frustrated, berating herself and exchanging some testy words with her team.
“I didn’t feel like I played amazing, it was really getting me down,” she told the crowd, offering an apology for her behavior.
She was down a break trailing 4-3 when she took a medical timeout for treatment on her left calf and ankle.
Osaka returned with renewed vigor, breaking Mertens at love for 4-4 and saving a break point in the next game for a 5-4 lead.
Mertens didn’t go quietly, saving a match point on the way to 5-5 and saving two more in the final game before Osaka secured the win.
Also in the night session, American teen Iva Jovic outlasted Philippines star Alexandra Eala in an epic three-hour showdown on Saturday to reach the fourth round of the US Open, where fourth seed Coco Gauff awaits.
Jovic, the 14th seed, won five of the last six games for a 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 triumph over 17th-seed Eala after three hours and three minutes.
“That felt like a marathon and I felt like I lost my sanity five times over to win that match,” Jovic said. “But it’s really worth it for this feeling.” Two of the top rising stars of women’s tennis made their Arthur Ashe Stadium debut a memorable battle that featured 17 service breaks in 33 games.
Jovic, 18 and Eala, 21, are friends and sometime doubles partners, knowing well each other’s skills and style. That helped produce seven service breaks in the first 11 games.
“I’m usually not one that shows that many emotions but this one really meant a lot to me. It’s everything to have another match here at the US Open,” said Jovic.
That match will be against compatriot Gauff, the 2023 US Open and 2025 French Open champion.
“I’m going to be more than happy to just bring this fight and this energy and whatever happens I can leave with my head high,” Jovic said.
Jovic broke four times to win the first set but was broken three times by left-hander Eala to drop the second.
Eala broke Jovic in the first game of the third set when the American netted a backhand.
“I just tried to take my time in those moments and feel the energy and feel the crowd — even though they weren’t always rooting for me,” Jovic said.
Jovic smacked a forehand winner to break Eala in the fourth game and level the set, but the American double-faulted away a break in the fifth.
Jovic broke back to 4-4 with a backhand service return winner and broke again in the last game, smacking a forehand winner to reach match point and taking the victory when Eala netted a forehand.
Jovic, a quarter-finalist at this year’s Australian Open, won her first WTA title last year in Guadalajara at age 17.
Earlier, Zheng Qinwen rallied from 0-5 down in the final set to stun Madison Keys and reach the US Open last 16 as American hopes took a knock on a Saturday of surprises.
Keys was followed to the exit by fellow Americans Taylor Fritz and 2025 women’s finalist Amanda Anisimova.
Francisco Cerundolo, the 24th seed from Argentina, rallied from two sets down to upset ninth-seeded Fritz 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 while Austrian Anastasia Potapova beat Anisimova 6-2, 7-5.
Cerundolo next meets big-serving Alexander Blockx, the 28th seed from Belgium who ousted fifth-seeded French Open finalist Flavio Cobolli 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-0, 6-3.
Zheng saved a match point in her 1-6, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5 triumph over Keys, the 2025 Australian Open champion and a US Open finalist back in 2017.
After coming through the second-set tie-breaker, Zheng appeared to be out of steam in the final set.
The former world number four had to come through qualifying after a lengthy recovery from elbow surgery saw her ranking plummet.
Keys raced to a 5-0 lead in the third but Zheng had a last stand in her. She saved match point at 5-1 and just kept rolling, Keys’s increasing frustration showing as she banged her head with her racquet after one lost point.
“I just told myself keep holding every single point, never give up, stay there. And somehow little by little it just happened,” Zheng said.
Zheng, currently ranked 121st in the world, will face six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek for a place in the quarter-finals.
She is the first qualifier to reach the US Open women’s singles fourth round since Emma Raducanu — who went on to win the title in 2021.
Zheng who called the months after her elbow surgery “the worst period” of her pro career, was delighted to be in the second week.
“The hard work pays off finally,” she said.
Potapova reached the US Open fourth round for the first time, twice recovering a break in the second set to topple 10th-seeded Anisimova.
For Potapova, it is the continuance of a resurgence which has her back inside the top 25 in the world rankings less than six months after she had fallen to 97th.
She next faces fifth-seeded French Open champion Mirra Andreeva, who beat Nikola Bartunkova 6-2, 7-6 (7/5).
Fourth-seeded Coco Gauff advanced to the fourth round of the US Open on Saturday, turning back Spain’s Cristina Bucsa in straight sets.
Gauff, the 2023 US Open champion, topped the 40th ranked Spaniard 6-3 6-4 in 88 minutes, charging the net on match point and sealing the victory when Bucsa’s lob sailed long.
“She’s a tricky player, so it’s tough to get rhythm,” Gauff said of the Spaniard. “Happy with how I fought through even when I wasn’t playing my best.” Gauff, who is on a nine-match winning streak after triumphing in the Cincinnati warm-up tournament, will next play either rising American Iva Jovic or Alex Eala of the Philippines.
In a largely baseline battle both Gauff and Bucsa made effective forays to the net and dug in defensively to extend the rallies with difficult retrievals that enthralled the crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Trailing 1-3 in the opening set, Gauff won the next five games, earning a key hold for 4-3 despite two double faults in a row.
Gauff struck first in the second set, breaking for 4-3 lead only to immediately drop her own serve. But she broke again in the next game and served out the match efficiently to reach the second week at Flushing Meadows for a fifth straight year.
The 2023 champion, Gauff will be looking to improve upon her result the last two years when she fell in the fourth round.
– Zverev under the lights –
Poland’s Swiatek, seeded eighth as she seeks to cap an erratic season with a second US Open crown, dominated both tiebreakers in a 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/3) victory over 25th-seeded Maria Bouzkova, who broke Swiatek early in each set but couldn’t make the lead stand up.
“For sure it was a super tough match,” Swiatek said. “It got pretty physical, many long rallies and I had to attack many times because (Bouzkova) was defending really well, getting every ball back.”
Men’s top seed Alexander Zverev was again due to close out the night session, taking on Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo.
In two five-set matches, both spilling into the early hours of the morning, the German has already spent nine hours and 26 minutes on court.
Zverev says he feels fine physically, but he knows he will have to play better if he wants to add a second Grand Slam title to the French Open trophy he captured this year.
Other top players due in action include former women’s champions Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka, along with reigning Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina.