Dominic Stricker (ATP 169) fails in the opening round of the US Open. The player from Bern was defeated by the Argentinian Francisco Comesaña (ATP 108) in four sets.
It was a first round that was absolutely winnable for last year’s round of 16 finalist. However, after a solid start, the 22-year-old from Bern lost most of the important points and thus the match 6:4, 3:6, 6:7 (4:7), 3:6. He will slip down the world rankings to 330th place or even lower.
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Keystone
Stricker is struggling to confirm his breakthrough from last year. The 2020 French Open junior winner missed the first half of the season due to persistent back problems, after which he never really got going. Although he showed signs of improvement last week in Winston-Salem with his first win of the year at ATP level, he was unable to confirm this in New York.
Comesaña, who is a year older, has yet to break a sweat on hard court and is only playing his second Grand Slam tournament. At Wimbledon, he had at least defeated the top ten player Andrej Rublev and reached the 3rd round. However, Stricker came to Flushing Meadows with fond memories of 2023, when he thrilled the fans with his relaxed approach and victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas.
There’s not much of that left at the moment. Stricker had plenty of chances for a better result. After winning the first set, he also led by a break in the second (3:2) and later had a set point on Comesaña’s serve in the third to take a 2:1 lead. At the moment, Stricker lacks composure and self-confidence in these decisive moments. So after just over three hours on the small outdoor court 4, it was already over.
