Kecmanovic too strong: Stricker loses round of 16 in Gstaad

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Dominic Stricker will follow this game for a while. Miomir Kecmanovic, number 44 in the world, could have been caught. But overall, the 20-year-old from Gross Höchstetten is not doing as well as the day before against Arthur Fils. With the service, knitters no longer get so many “free points”. The atmosphere is not as great and exciting as the day before, when the stands were packed in the early afternoon.

It certainly wasn’t in Stricker’s favor that the previous three matches at the Roy Emerson Arena had all been over three sets. When Stricker is finally allowed onto the field in the evening, his best fans may not be there, but many of the Unterlanders are already on their way back to the Unterland.

Stricker holds up well for a long time

So in the end, knitters have plenty of reasons to argue. A win over Miomir Kecmanovic would have seen him enter the top 100 in the world rankings for the first time, ahead of the likes of Diego Schwartzmann, Marin Cilic, Dominic Thiem or David Goffin. And in the quarterfinals he would face Zizou Bergs – a Belgian qualifier who is only 175th in the world.

Although he has far too few first serves, there are opportunities for Stricker. He leads 2-1 and 30-0 in the first set. With 6:5 and 30:0 he only misses two points to win the first set. And in the tiebreak, Stricker leads 3:2 and holds on to 4:4.

Then the skins of the Berners swim away. Kecmanovic raises in the second set and eventually wins five games in a row. But: for Stricker, a defeat against Miomir Kecmanovic is certainly not a disgrace – especially since the young Serb creates more chances than Stricker. Kecmanovic feels quite comfortable at high altitude. Three years ago he won his first tournament in Kitzbühel. On his way to the title, he defeated Marc-Andrea Hüsler in three sets in the semifinals. Kemanovic broke through at the age of 20. Although Dominic Stricker has facilities, he has yet to make a breakthrough.

Last hope Wawrinka

For the time being, the Swiss will no longer be able to reach the quarter-finals at the Swiss Open in Gstaad. Swiss heroics, such as Leandro Riedi’s against Holger Rune at the Hopman Cup in Nice on Wednesday, have not been seen in Gstaad since Stan Wawrinka last reached the quarter-finals a decade ago.

It is now up to Stan Wawrinka to finally put an end to this dubious drought after ten years. In the tournament’s more than 100-year history prior to 2013, at least one Swiss player reached the quarterfinals at least every five years. Usually it didn’t take that long, sometimes even several Swiss made it to the last eight, and sometimes even further.

Stan Wawrinka (ATP 74) will meet Spaniard Jaume Munar (ATP 111) as favorite on Thursday evening. (SDA)

Source : Blick