Stan Wawrinka and Dominic Stricker celebrate both wins in straight sets in Sweden.
Stan Wawrinka (ATP 217) was able to celebrate one of his most valuable victories in his crisis year of 2024. The 39-year-old Romand defeated number 6 seeded American Brandon Nakashima (ATP 38) 6:4, 6:4 in the first round of the ATP 250 tournament in Stockholm.
Wawrinka started strong and didn’t let up. In the first set he didn’t allow Nakashima a break point. He also made the service breakthrough early in round 2 and took the lead home. It was Wawrinka’s 3rd victory over Nakashima in the 3rd direct duel.
His next opponent is Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, number 64 in the world rankings. He has never played against the 25-year-old Spaniard.
Stricker already in the quarterfinals
After Wawrinka, Dominic Stricker (ATP 317) also celebrated an important victory. In his second round game against the Italian Matteo Berrettini (ATP 42), the Bernese won 7:6 (8:6), 6:4, demonstrating his fighting qualities several times. In the first round, Stricker fended off two set points from the former world number 6 in the tiebreak before using his first to win the set.
In the second set, Stricker had to fend off 5 break points, but as in the entire game, he never gave up his serve. He made the only break of the game himself – to make it 6:4 and win.
In the next round, the 22-year-old will face either Quentin Halys (FRA/ATP 95) or Grigor Dimitrov (BUL/ATP 10). This game will not be played until Thursday evening. Thanks to the quarter-final qualification, it is already clear that Stricker will move up around 60 places in the world rankings to the region around 250th place.
