After about 18 hours of travel from Melbourne with a stopover in Los Angeles, it was on to the Tennis Ohio Championships 2022 in Columbus. When the draw was out, everyone thought, no not really: first round against the No. 2 of the tournament. None other than the American Tennys Sandgreen ATP 94 (best ranking 2019 No. 41) was Dominic’s opponent. See also video summary of the match below. What a match it was 6:4, 6:7, and in the third set tiebreak again. This one was just to enjoy and Dominic won this one to 0. What a great success for a first round. In the second round another US player Stefan Kozlov ATP 151 was on the other side. And what a player. See also video summary of the match below. This one won this tournament in Columbus in 2021. 4:6 the first set was lost. One of the deciding factors was that the referee gave Kozlov 2 points without playing and so it came to a break. Dominic visibly lost his concentration and conceded a break right at the beginning of the second set. Kozlov then had at least 5 decisive opportunities to win the match. But Dominic, in the meantime fully focused on the court again, won all these points and came back into the match. He then won sets 2 and 3 6:4 and 6:3. In the 1/4 final, Dominic should have started against the next American. Jack Sock ATP 150 (best ranking 2017 No. 8). But this one tested positive for Covid before the match started and Dominic won where against him. Yuri Rodionov ATP 133 was the opponent in the 1/2 final. Both fought to reach the final and it was almost impossible to watch. 6:4 / 2:6 / 6:3. Certainly not the best match of Dominic but no matter. We made it to the final. There the Japanese player Nishioka Yoshihito ATP 123 (best ranking 2020 No. 48) was waiting. And he started brilliantly and showed no weaknesses. Dominic played probably one of the best matches and the pace in this match was simply unbelievable. But the Japanese player just didn’t make any mistakes and played very solid. In the end, Nishioka deservedly took the victory with 6:2 / 6:4.
What a great week for Dominic. Wins only against top players. Bravo.