US Open: Lorenzo Musetti Falls Victim to the Heat and Dane Sweeny; He’s Already Out in the Second Round
Lorenzo Musetti’s run at the 2026 U.S. Open ended with a bitterly disappointing second-round exit. The player from Carrara lost in four sets (3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2) in a very tough match against wild card Dane Sweeny that lasted just over two and a half hours. The Italian certainly struggled against his opponent’s strong performance—Sweeny is ranked No. 123 in the ATP rankings—but above all, he was hampered by his less-than-perfect physical and athletic condition, as well as the intense heat in New York, which caused him to feel dizzy and have difficulty breathing during the match.
The evening seemed to start off on the right foot for Musetti, even though Sweeny immediately gave the impression that he was going to put up a fierce fight. The first set, however, went in the Tuscan’s favor, as he eventually capitalized on his long rallies and secured the decisive break at 5-3. But then the Australian began to gain confidence, especially when coming to the net, and after losing his serve for the first time, the Italian started making several errors. It was precisely at this stage that he began to feel dizzy and short of breath, leading him to take a medical timeout and, more importantly, to lose the set 6-1 and the next one 6-2. It wasn’t until the fourth set that the player from Carrara, ranked No. 14 in the world, made a feeble attempt at a comeback, which was thwarted by two break points that didn’t materialize. Thus, the underdog Sweeny will face Luciano Darderi in the third round.
Darderi, his opponent, earned his spot in the third round through sheer determination and grit. The Italian-Argentine defeated the Czech Dalibor Svrcina with a score of 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4 in over three and a quarter hours of play, in a tense and hard-fought match in which both players smashed their racquets and Svrcina himself racked up a whopping 20 double faults. Darderi had already had a far-from-easy debut in the first round, when he defeated Britain’s Harry Wendelken in four sets on a court made slippery by rain, finishing with 15 aces and 147 total points won.
Musetti’s elimination inevitably weighs on the Italian contingent’s performance at Flushing Meadows, which includes no fewer than ten players in the men’s draw. Today also brought more bad news: Mattia Bellucci lost in three sets to 10th-seeded Taylor Fritz by a lopsided score of 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 in just over an hour and a half of play at Arthur Ashe Stadium. For the player from Busto Arsizio, ranked No. 95 in the ATP rankings, this brings to a close a US Open campaign that began with a first-round victory over a qualifier.
The tournament has thus lost two of its Italian representatives, but some big names remain in the running. Foremost among them is Flavio Cobolli, the fifth seed and currently ranked sixth in the world, who now represents Italy’s best hope.
The overall context of the tournament is that of a particularly wide-open draw, especially due to the absence of Jannik Sinner, the world No. 1 and defending champion from 2024. The South Tyrolean is undergoing rehabilitation at J Medical in Turin for inflammation of the tendons in his right knee, with the goal of returning to competition in late September in Beijing. Taking over as the top favorite is Carlos Alcaraz, the defending champion, who is returning after more than four months out with a wrist injury: “Coming back here and playing best-of-five sets after such a long time will be really challenging,” the Spaniard admitted.
