YB carnival in Gstaad guest of honour
Stricker wins Swiss Derby – despite blood and heat
Dominic Stricker moves into the next round in Gstaad against his Davis Cup teammate Marc-Andrea Hüsler. He wins after three sets after repelling three match points in the second set.
Dominic Stricker (ATP 180) is in the second round at the Swiss Open in Gstaad for the first time. He wins the Swiss duel against his Davis Cup teammate Marc-Andrea Hüsler (ATP 99) 6: 7, 7: 6, 6: 4 – thanks to a crazy turnaround in the second set.
“What happened on the pitch today is extremely cool,” says a visibly exhausted Stricker after his first individual win at his home tournament. Conditions are tough. The thermometer shows 32 degrees when the two ask for a tennis dance.
YB star Christian Fassnacht, who tossed the coin as a guest of honour, and the other spectators see a lively game in which both players rely on their strong serve. There is no sign of a break. Hüsler was only able to win the first set in the tie-break.
In thoughts already in the shower
In the second sentence it goes on like this. Solid service games dominate the game until Hüsler manages the first break of the game. 5:4. The Zurich player serves to win and earns three match points. Stricker: “With the match balls, my thoughts were already more in the shower than on the pitch.”
But he creates the surprise. The Bernese Oberlander gets five points in a row and decides the set again in the tie-break. The audience cheers frenetically. Stricker’s tension eases. After that, however, he needs medical help. The nose is bleeding. But Stricker doesn’t let that stop him either – not even the sun, which has become annoyingly low in the meantime. The local hero shows nerves of steel and wins.
Even before the game, the 19-year-old was busy with such tight games that he lost in the recent past. This time it worked. “It helps to win a game like this in extremis again.” Now on Thursday Stricker will meet the number 4 seeded Spaniard Albert Ramos-Viñolas (ATP 40). (smi)
