ISMANING, October 31, 2023
World No. 90 Dominic Stricker from Switzerland opened his title bid at the Wolffkran Open with a hard-fought 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-3 first-round win over Portuguese qualifier Joao Sousa. The top seed of the ATP Challenger Tour 75 carpet-tournament struck 12 aces and won 79 per cent of his first-service points to secure victory in one hour and 54 minutes.
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“A first round is never easy but I am very happy that I won,” said Stricker, who reached the quarterfinals at the ATP 500 Swiss Indoors in Basel last week. “There were some ups and downs in my game today but on carpet things can go very quickly. I arrived here with a lot of confidence, which helped me in difficult moments today.”
Up next for the 21-year-old Grosshöchstetten native will be Rudolf Molleker from Germany.
Marterer with win in straight sets
In the bottom half of the draw, No. 2 seed Maximilian Marterer beat Michael Geerts of Belgium 6-3, 6-4. The 28-year-old German didn’t face a break point and capitalized on both of his own two break-point chances to advance in exactly one hour of play.
“I capitalized on my chances today and served well. That’s important on this surface,” said Marterer.
Marterer will next take on Polish qualifier Kacper Zuk, who edged past Adrian Andreev of Bulgaria 7-6(12), 6-4. The encounter lasted one hour and 56 minutes.
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