Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Alex de Minaur could relinquish his top-10 ranking within weeks after a second-round US Open defeat capped his least-successful grand slam season in three years.
The world No.7 suffered a 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 loss to dangerous Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp in New York on Friday (AEST), continuing a prolonged form downturn after a brilliant start to his 2026 campaign.
De Minaur’s disappointing exit came on a dramatic day at Flushing Meadows, where wildcard Dane Sweeny was the sole Australian to progress to the round of 32 after toppling fancied Italian Lorenzo Musetti.
It also happened as Nick Kyrgios accepted a one-month suspension for out-of-competition use of cocaine.
“My level today wasn’t good enough. It’s pretty straightforward,” de Minaur said.
“I gave myself every chance by being competitive, having a good mindset, a good attitude, but it was just one of those days when the feeling of the ball on the strings wasn’t there.
“I was making a lot of errors, which is not really my normal game style. I can’t really explain the reasoning of it, but it felt like the more I tried, the more intensity, the more fired up I was getting, I just kept on making unforced errors … [it was] a tough day at the office.”
De Minaur lost this early in a major only twice in his past 13 events.
He advanced to a second Australian Open quarter-final in January, but bowed out in the third and fourth rounds at Roland-Garros and Wimbledon, respectively.
De Minaur reached the US Open quarter-finals the past two years, and his defeat – his earliest in New York in five years – means wildcard Sweeny is the only Australian still in singles contention.
Sweeny, a 170-centimetre battler ranked 123 in the world, is celebrating his maiden top-20 victory, taking down Italy’s dual grand slam semi-finalist Musetti 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 in a titanic upset to reach the third round for the first time.
It is van de Zandschulp’s second major scalp at the US Open after eliminating Carlos Alcaraz in the same round two years ago, but he had never beaten de Minaur in four prior meetings.
The result was an upset on paper only, given power-hitting van de Zandschulp entered the tournament in better form than de Minaur, who has made it beyond the quarter-finals at any event only once since February.
The 27-year-old was crestfallen after his Wimbledon defeat to Flavio Cobolli in July, saying afterwards that not stepping up on that stage “breaks me inside”. He played down his devastated post-match reaction in Washington a few weeks later, but has struggled on court since.
De Minaur’s much-scrutinised serve failed him against van de Zandschulp, committing seven double faults compared to only four aces, while conceding 11 break points and dropping serve five times.
He hit one of those double faults to go a set and 4-3 down, but a stroke of fortune in the next game could have proven a turning point. After some fabulous defence, a de Minaur backhand clipped the net cord and whizzed past van de Zandschulp for a winner to reduce him to 15-40.
De Minaur drew level, then edged ahead, but lost a marathon service game at 5-5 after saving four break points before conceding on the fifth.
Van de Zandschulp apologised because a mishit ball landed short in the court to drag de Minaur into the net and create his forehand pass opportunity, but the Australian could have done more.
The Dutchman went two sets up, and the odds were against de Minaur, who had never erased that deficit in 27 attempts.
After going off court between sets, de Minaur tried to up the ante, but flayed a forehand long in the third game to drop serve. Two break-back points came and went in the next game before van de Zandschulp broke his top-10 rival once more to as good as seal the Aussie’s fate.
Little has happened easily for Sweeny in his until-now off-Broadway tennis career, so he was due some good fortune – and it is coming in spades at this US Open.
Musetti spent most of the final three sets physically struggling, hunched over in the corner of the court and generally looking under the weather. He took an off-court medical timeout after going 3-0 down in the third set, and showed the odd sign of life, but Sweeny never let up.
Sweeny’s only previous match against this calibre of opponent was a straight-sets defeat to American star Ben Shelton in the second round at this year’s Australian Open.
He is now guaranteed a payday of more than $400,000, and is provisionally at a career-high live ranking of No.109 ahead of another on-court date with a seeded Italian, Luciano Darderi.
“I’m so grateful to be able to even compete in grand slams,” Sweeny said.
“I put a lot of work in. The tennis journey is such a rollercoaster, and I’m so incredibly grateful to play in front of an awesome crowd and to soak up this moment. To win, and to get a couple of wins, is awesome.”
This milestone moment comes barely two years since Sweeny took a multi-month break from the sport after suffering through a form slump, just as he felt close to finally breaking through into elite company.
“That’s the beautiful thing about pursuing something so hard like tennis,” he said.
“Tennis can change on the flip of a coin. You’ve just got to keep persevering, and that’s what I did. I wasn’t getting results for a long while, but there’s a law of probability. I knew it was somehow going to swing in my favour if I just kept going, and I did.
“Now I’m here, and it’s the best decision I ever made to come back after that two months.”
Meanwhile, the International Tennis Integrity Agency announced on Friday morning that Kyrgios had accepted a one-month suspension for out-of-competition use of cocaine, while agreeing to enter a treatment program that reduces the ban from three months.
Kyrgios apologised to his family, friends and fans last month for making a “huge mistake” when his provisional suspension was revealed. He admitted to the ITIA that he used cocaine socially on a night out before he competed in Mallorca.
Kyrgios’ suspension officially ended on Thursday, subject to him completing his treatment program, and he forfeited his prizemoney and ranking points from the Mallorca event.
Former doubles partner Stefanos Tsitsipas, whom Kyrgios has feuded with, said after his first-round US Open victory that the news did not surprise him and that he was aware of the situation.
For a while, a second Australian underdog seemed poised to upset a highly ranked Italian as qualifier Tristan Schoolkate snatched the first set from Roland-Garros finalist Cobolli, only to go down 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 to the No.5 seed.
A dispirited Alexei Popyrin also exited the US Open, losing 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 to 25th-seeded Chilean left-hander Alejandro Tabilo after a bright start.
The Musetti result continued some overdue luck for Sweeny, who was supposed to contest US Open qualifying, but several player withdrawals enabled Popyrin to make the main draw cut-off, and transferred Tennis Australia’s reciprocal wildcard to him.
The 25-year-old parlayed his wildcard into his first grand slam win outside Melbourne Park when Frenchman Corentin Moutet retired with an arm injury while trailing 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 3-0.
Musetti was dressed head-to-toe in sponsored Asics gear, whereas the mustachioed Sweeny wore a plain white shirt and red cap to shade him from the harsh and humid New York heat. The war wounds on Sweeny’s elbows and knees were evidence of his scrappy style, too.
Everything changed after a relatively routine opening set, albeit one Sweeny had chances in.
Musetti began looking off-colour during the second set, which he lost in lopsided fashion, and never fully recovered despite glimpses of his usual spectacular shot-making.
Like the second set, Musetti quickly handed over a pair of breaks in the third.
He twice recovered a break, only to hand it straight back to Sweeny, whose relentless hitting and scampering never wavered. The fourth set took a similar path as Musetti gifted an immediate break of serve that left him playing catch up again.
On a day of upsets, third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime also departed in four sets to Karen Khachanov, but Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek, Taylor Fritz and Naomi Osaka were among the winners.
With AAP
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