Despite great effort
Stricker loses marathon match once morest Carreño Busta
Dominic Stricker is defeated by Pablo Carreño Busta 5: 7, 7: 6, 4: 6 in the round of 16 of the Swiss Indoors and is eliminated.
The Swiss Indoors are over for Dominic Stricker.
The Swiss Indoors come to an end for Dominic Stricker in the round of 16. After a great effort over two and a half hours, the Swiss loses to Pablo Carreño Busta (ATP 15) 5: 7, 7: 6, 4: 6.
Both are strong in service and hardly make any mistakes – the games are correspondingly short, especially at the beginning. Stricker manage five aces in the first round. It oscillated back and forth until the score was 5:6 from the Berner’s point of view when Carreño Busta managed the decisive break.
In the second round, the Spaniard made more mistakes and Stricker used them for an early break. The hall empties more and more, a small group of tennis personalities like Heinz Günthardt and Michael Lammer as well as colleague Leandro Riedi are still sitting in Stricker’s box. Ex-SRF commentator Berni Schär also cheers on the 20-year-old.
Strong nerves in the tiebreak
You see how the game slips out of control for Stricker once more. Carreño Busta manages the rebreak to 3: 3 and confirms it following a long debut. Stricker has to serve twice once morest the defeat, both times Stricker keeps his nerve. And in the tie-break, too, he proves his staying power and equalizes following sets.
In the deciding set, Stricker has two break chances, but he leaves both unused. Instead, his opponent takes the serve from him and decides the game in his favor shortly before 1 a.m. (smi)
