The Swiss Next Gen defeats Benjamin Bonzi in 5 sets and reaches his first round of 16 in a Slam, where he will face Taylor Fritz
Sometimes it is just a matter of getting the ball rolling, sometimes it’s about “sliding doors”. With Dominic Stricker it’s both.
Coming into the match with Benjamin Bonzi, who is well remembered in New York for his gruelling performance against Nick Kyrgios one year ago, Stricker was on a 5-match winning streak, 3 wins in the qualifiers and 2 in the main draw. In the second round of the quals he saved match point against the Spaniard Pablo Llamas Ruiz and survived a rollercoaster tiebreaker in the decider: 13-11. In the future that match may be put down as the turning point of a career.
Stricker took one set to make his mark. Bonzi had won the first set 62, by playing neatly and building on the many unforced errors leaked by the Swiss. He also cruised on to break immediately in the second set, when suddenly and with no reason blacked out. Stricker pounded in and soared to 53 and two set points. But it was his turn to sputter, and it took him four more games to close out the set 75.
When he edged a break ahead in the third set, the match appeared to be taking a turn. It wasn’t so. Stricker, though firing winners off his serve and forehand, still was not able to harness unforced errors, and the set went to a tiebreak. Which he won 7-4.
Hardly disheartened, Bonzi upped his serve percentage and broke Stricker in the sixth game. He would only lose two more points on serve and took the match to a decider.
It wasn’t a thriller. After saving two break points in the first game the young Swiss moved up a gear and, like in his match with Tsitsipas, was unstoppable. He took it 62.
“Feels amazing actually to be in the fourth round for the first time in my life. I’m just super happy. The qualifying week wasn’t easy. I saved match point in the second round. We were joking a bit, [with Wawrinka] that some good stories happen if you save match points. Now being in the fourth round, I would say it’s kind of a story.
Cool and fired at the same time, on court where he combines the panache of ball striker and gentle touch, and in press conference where he is eager to switch from tennis focus to his passions, Dominc Stricker brings spice to the tennis stage.
“I think I’m just enjoying the moment right now. I’m spending a lot of time with my team off court, going for dinner together, going for lunch, going to see some stuff in the city. We went to the Michael Jackson musical earlier this week. Yeah, just enjoying as much as I can to see the city and focus on tennis whenever I have to.”