{"id":881696,"date":"2026-09-06T04:28:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T04:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/881696\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T04:28:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T04:28:15","slug":"dane-sweeny-exits-us-open-to-end-australias-singles-chances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/881696\/","title":{"rendered":"Dane Sweeny exits US Open to end Australia’s singles chances"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dane Sweeny’s gallant US Open campaign has come to a frustrating end with a tough third-round loss to 21st-seeded Italian Luciano Darderi.<\/p>\n

Sweeny complained of a hip injury during a 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 defeat to the world number 22 that left Australia without a second-week singles hope in New York for the first time in five years.<\/p>\n

Alex de Minaur’s shock second-round loss to Botic van de Zandschulp<\/a> meant Sweeny was Australia’s last player standing at Flushing Meadows.<\/p>\n

“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.<\/p>\n

“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.<\/p>\n

“I was OK 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.<\/p>\n

“Win or lose, I wanted to really make him work for the victory at least and I wasn’t able to do that.”<\/p>\n

The world number 123 only gained a last-minute entry to the US Open after two late withdrawals allowed Tennis Australia to grant Sweeny the reciprocal wildcard it initially handed to Alexei Popyrin.<\/p>\n

\"Dane<\/p>\n

Dane Sweeny reached the last 32 for the first time at a major. (Getty images\/USTA: Dustin Satloff)<\/p>\n

Despite his disappointment, Sweeny cashed in on his good fortune.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old turned his first US Open main-draw appearance into a watershed run to the last 32 of a major for the first time.<\/p>\n

The Queenslander will walk away with a life-changing cheque for $402,500 and a fresh career-high ranking.<\/p>\n

“The financial side of things, that will help with coaching and people you travel with,” Sweeny said.<\/p>\n

Sweeny is provisionally slated to climb to number 109 in the world.<\/p>\n

If he can crack the top 100 by season’s end, Sweeny will earn direct entry to the Australian Open for the first time.<\/p>\n

“That’s exciting too. But that will take care of itself,” Sweeny said.<\/p>\n

“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.<\/p>\n

“Particularly just staying really kind to myself and trying to enjoy the journey.”<\/p>\n

American tilt takes a hit<\/p>\n

Past US Open finalists Taylor Fritz, Madison Keys and Amanda Anisimova all crashed out in the third round, dealing a stinging blow to home fans.<\/p>\n

Men’s ninth seed \u200bFritz had yet to drop a set in New York and looked well on his way to another routine victory before Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo found his best tennis to flip the script and win 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.<\/p>\n

It was the earliest exit in four years for the 2024 runner-up, as Cerundolo reached the \u200bfourth round for the first time.<\/p>\n

The American \u200cwomen fared no better as China’s Zheng Qinwen fought back from a 5-0 deficit in the decider to beat 2017 runner-up Keys 1-6, 7-6 (7\/3), 7-5, collapsing on the court in utter joy as she fights back from a career slump.<\/p>\n

\"Zheng<\/p>\n

Zheng Qinwen celebrates her win over Madison Keys. (Getty Images: Al Bello)<\/p>\n

Zheng will next face 2022 champion and former world number one, Iga \u015awi\u0105tek, who got past Czech Marie Bouzkov\u00e1 7-6 (7\/3), 7-6 (7\/3).<\/p>\n

Tenth-seeded Anisimova, last \u200byear’s runner-up, was unable to reverse \u200cher fortunes in a frustrating year at the majors, with a 6-2, 7-5 defeat by Anastasia Potapova.<\/p>\n

Coco Gauff, the 2023 US Open winner, provided the lone bright spot for the Americans when she beat Spain’s Cristina Buc\u0219a 6-3, 6-4 in the third round.<\/p>\n

AAP\/Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dane Sweeny’s gallant US Open campaign has come to a frustrating end with a tough third-round loss to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":881697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,18937,218869,2636,68138,85,3599,747,1751],"class_list":["post-881696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-coco-gauff","tag-dane-sweeny","tag-iga-swiatek","tag-madison-keys","tag-sports","tag-taylor-fritz","tag-tennis","tag-us-open"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=881696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/881697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=881696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=881696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}