{"id":517029,"date":"2026-01-15T03:47:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T03:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/517029\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T03:47:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T03:47:12","slug":"aussie-dane-sweeny-claims-150000-spot-in-australian-open-after-battling-through-qualifying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/517029\/","title":{"rendered":"Aussie Dane Sweeny claims $150,000 spot in Australian Open after battling through qualifying"},"content":{"rendered":"

Local hope Dane Sweeny has reached his second Australian Open<\/a> main draw after fighting his way through qualifying on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Ranked as low as 680th in the world last year, the 24-year-old rose up the rankings with a series of third-tier titles \u2014 and now he\u2019ll get his chance at the very top.<\/p>\n

Sweeny battled to a 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-4) win over Italian veteran Stefano Travaglia to secure his spot, and a minimum of $150,000 in prize money, in the grand slam.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n

Sweeny raced out to a 5-2 lead in the first set but tightened up, missing two chances to wrap it up before eventually sealing it in the tiebreak.<\/p>\n

Travaglia, a former world No.60, made his experience count in the second set, capitalising on Sweeny\u2019s errors and jumping out to a 4-1 lead.<\/p>\n

But again the local hope, who hit the ground multiple times in the match as he scrapped for points, kept at it.<\/p>\n

Sweeny broke back at 3-4 and both players held serve to send it to a nervy tiebreak that began with four dropped serves.<\/p>\n

Then Sweeny put the foot down, winning five straight points to claim the match as he sunk to the ground and let the crowd\u2019s roar engulf him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in disbelief. I was ranked 700 not so long ago,\u201d Sweeny said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI persevered, I was doubting the whole time and I just feel so incredibly grateful to be able to be in this position.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud of myself for just digging in there when it was tough. I can\u2019t really believe it yet but I\u2019m super excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sweeny admitted he was \u201cpassive in the big moments\u201d in the first set and told himself to \u201cplay with conviction \u2014 win or lose\u201d in the second.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I did that and that\u2019s why I won,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

At one point in the second set it appeared he had hurt his wrist during one of his trademark dives.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t even have a decision when I do that, it\u2019s just intuitive, it just happens,\u201d Sweeny said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it just comes from being small and learning to scrap (from) a young age.\u201d<\/p>\n

He will learn his first-round opponent later on Thursday.<\/p>\n

After that, he and his family might just celebrate with a \u201csomewhere a little bit ritzy with the first-round prize money\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"SweenySweeny last played in a grand slam main draw at the 2024 Australian Open. Credit: AAP<\/p>\n

Sweeny was an unlikely qualifier at the 2024 Australian Open, making the most of his wildcard opportunity when his last opponent retired.<\/p>\n

He pushed 22nd seed Francisco Cerundolo all the way in the first round but fell to an agonising defeat after nearly three and a half hours.<\/p>\n

Two years on, Sweeny will get another chance to nab a win.<\/p>\n

Jason Kubler is the last Australian man hoping to qualify but faces a tough match-up against current world No.95 Alexander Blockx.<\/p>\n

In the women\u2019s qualifiers, Storm Hunter will battle fellow doubles star Taylor Townsend while Maddison Inglis will meet Tamara Korpatsch.<\/p>\n

Read more Australian Open news<\/p>\n

\u2018Annoying\u2019 Labuschagne sparks extraordinary Big Bash collapse<\/p>\n

2 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Comeback kid no more: Aussie star crashes out of AO qualifying<\/p>\n

2 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Local hope Dane Sweeny has reached his second Australian Open main draw after fighting his way through qualifying…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":517030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[38341,1165,21006,1926,62,1464,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-517029","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-australian-open","9":"tag-lifestyle","10":"tag-sponsored-content","11":"tag-sport","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-tennis","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115897069988846569","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}