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Swiss professional tennis players Dominic Stricker and Viktoria Golubic suffered defeats in the first round of the US Open. The Bernese are ranked lower but full of confidence.
Dominic Stricker of Switzerland hits back at Francisco Comesana of Argentina during their first-round match at the U.S. Open in New York, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Julia Nickinson)
(South Dakota) It was one of the most feel-good stories in sports last year: the young Swiss qualifier Dominic Stricker, on the verge of knocking out top 10 star Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round of the US Open, sang Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” with. Twelve months later, that lighthearted atmosphere is gone for the Bernese, and even a return to New York couldn’t restore that magic.
In fact, the draw was a big one for Stricker (ATP 169). But he failed to make the most of this opportunity against Argentine Francisco Cosania (ATP 108) – literally. The 22-year-old Stricker had plenty of chances, but after a solid start, he lost almost all the important points and lost the match 6:4, 3:6, 6:7 (4:7), 3:6 in just over three hours. He led by breaks in both the second and third sets.
After the injury break, his ranking fell further
After reaching the last 16 last year, Stricker will now slip to 330th in the world rankings, and could even fall further. “It sounds crazy,” the left-hander admitted. But he is not too worried. On the one hand, his ranking can be explained by the injury that took him six months off at the beginning of the year due to persistent back pain, and on the other hand, he can still benefit from a protected ranking of five or six tournaments.
Viktoria Golubic was also eliminated in the first round. The 31-year-old from Zurich (WTA 73) reached the main draw for the seventh time but lost in her first match. This time she had no chance against the 26th seeded Spaniard Paula Badosa with a score of 0:6, 3:6 in 69 minutes.
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