‘Rooting for the Aussie boys’: Mates ride US Open wave into second round

Dane Sweeny created a GoFundMe account as a teenager to beg for money to keep his tennis dream alive.

That is now just a distant memory for the happy-go-lucky Australian as he closes in on his top-100 debut after winning his second match at a grand slam on Wednesday at the US Open – and first away from Melbourne Park.

Sweeny advanced to the second round when zany Frenchman Corentin Moutet retired with an arm injury while trailing Australia’s world No.123 by a 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 3-0 scoreline on a rain-interrupted day in New York that delayed play by almost four hours.

The 25-year-old will pocket almost $266,000 prizemoney, on top of the roughy $560,000 he had already earned in a career-best year to date, including winning a round at the Australian Open and qualifying for Wimbledon.

Australia will have at least seven players in the second round, with Tristan Schoolkate following his close friend Sweeny in winning on Wednesday before the rain returned.

Schoolkate beat fellow qualifier Nishesh Basavareddy 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach this stage at Flushing Meadows for the third year in a row.

“It’s really nice. I’m always rooting for the Aussie boys, and it’s nice to see a couple get over the line, especially Tristan,” Sweeny said. “We’ve known each other for so long.”

Schoolkate was similarly thrilled for Sweeny, saying they were “amped” to see each other at the start of the day and that he spent his match with one eye on the scoreboard tracking his friend’s progress.

The draw gets tougher from here for both players, with highly ranked Italians Lorenzo Musetti and Flavio Cobolli up next for Sweeny and Schoolkate, respectively.

“I’m really excited to play Musetti,” Sweeny said.

“It’s going to be a great match. He’s obviously one of the world’s best players, and I’m really excited to take it to him.”

Moutet was up to his usual tricks against Sweeny, demolishing a racquet – which he later gifted to a fan – mockingly blowing a kiss to the sky after an ace, and double-faulting at 4-4 in the second set on his way to conceding a costly break.

He had clearly had enough by the time he dropped serve a second time in the third set, although he did have strapping on his left arm throughout the match.

Sweeny, who is listed at 170 centimetres on the ATP website, was due to contest US Open qualifying until a series of withdrawals enabled Alexei Popyrin to make the main draw off his ranking, which opened Tennis Australia’s reciprocal wildcard for Sweeny.

Fellow Australian wildcard Taylah Preston also won her first-round match two days ago.

Sweeny and Schoolkate join Preston, Kim Birrell, Maya Joint, Popyrin and James Duckworth, with leading hope and No.6 seed Alex de Minaur still to begin his campaign, which opens against 187th-ranked Italian qualifier Andrea Guerrieri.

“I haven’t lost in the first round here yet, so it’s a good start,” Schoolkate said.

“I’m coming through ‘qualies’ this time, and that gave me a lot of confidence. I played a really good match, probably the best match I’ve played here.”

Australia’s top-ranked woman, Daria Kasatkina, has work to do in her opener against Spain’s former world No.2 Paula Badosa, trailing 6-1, 1-2 when rain forced them off court.

However, injury-cursed Thanasi Kokkinakis pulled out of his scheduled clash with another Spaniard, rising star Rafael Jodar, because of an ankle setback.