Thanks to a wildcard, Dominic was able to play directly in the main draw of the Swiss Indoors, the third-largest indoor tournament in the world, in Basel. (Tableau / Results)
In the first round on Swiss Tuesday, Dominic faced B. Hassan. Dominic did not have good memories of playing against him, as he had lost his last two matches against this unpleasant opponent. The two played at eye level and so it came to a tie-break in the first set. Dominic played superbly there and was able to take the first set. After that, the spell was broken somewhat and Dominic managed a break early on and later a second, which meant the 6:2 in the second set. Dominic was thus able to confirm his victory from last year, to the friends of the whole tournament. As all the other Swiss players were eliminated in the first round, Dominic was the last hope for the Basel crowd.
However, the draw had it that he would face the number 2 seed, the favorite to win the tournament, the Norwegian Casper Ruud ATP 8.
In front of a sold-out crowd in the cauldron of Basel, the time had come on Thursday. Dominic got off to an explosive and strong start. But then came the moment of shock. At 2:1, the physio had to come onto the pitch and treat Dominic for pain in his knee. But with a tape on his knee, he continued and how. Dominic was clearly the better and much more active player than Ruud and created many more chances. Dominic played a solid first set, in which he managed the only break at 3:2 and then won it 6:4. Dominic continued to play identically and, supported by the crowd, he created four break chances at 2:2 and thus a possible preliminary decision. However, Ruud, the three-time Grand Slam finalist and two-time tournament winner in Gstaad and Geneva, countered each time and in turn managed to break back to 3:5. The second set was then quickly over at 3:6. Fortunately, this was to be Dominic’s only loss of serve, as he recovered in the deciding set – also because he was able to make up a 0:40 deficit in the first game. The score was 6:6 and the tie-break had to decide who would progress to the next round. Point by point, one more dramatic and interesting than the other. Enjoyable and the crowd went wild with applause. Basel hasn’t seen anything like it for a long time. 6:1 and first match point. Dominic ended the match with a fantastic forehand winner. 6:4, 3:6, 7:6 (7:1). Dominic was clearly the better player and so, after 2:25 hours, he achieved one of the most valuable victories of his young career.
This was followed by a standing ovation that Dominic had probably never experienced before. Ruud only had to make his way to the middle to congratulate Dominic on this sensational performance. In the end, his statistics showed an incredible 54 winners (direct points from Dominic). Even all the commentators and critics were full of praise for Dominic and his creative and attractive game. As a result, Dominic also prevented a Swiss player from reaching the quarter-finals of the Swiss Indoors for the first time since 2005. Dominic (ATP 96) crushed a top ten player for the second time after Stefanos Tsitsipas at the US Open – and he did so very deservedly.
Dominic told the press. “I went through a few tough moments at the end of the second and beginning of the third set, but in the end I played an incredible tiebreak” and “After losing five times in a row before the tournament in Basel, I’m now “super happy” with my level again and the fans also helped me enormously”.
Roger Brennwald, Tournament Director Swiss Indoors in Basel, was overjoyed and simply said: “That was historic”
The injury that Dominic had sustained was a little too much of a burden for Lieder. Dominic played fantastically again in his first quarter-final at an indoor ATP tournament. However, it soon became clear that he couldn’t play with the same aggression and ease as against Ruud. The Frenchman Ugo Humbert (ATP 26), who had played very well in the weeks/months before, was too big a nut to crack in the end. After losing the first set, Dominic won set number 2, but in the third Humbert made almost no mistakes and Dominic was unfortunately visibly physically inhibited due to injury. 4:6, 6:2, 2:6 – a great pity. Dominic played similar to the day before and who knows how far the tournament would have gone for him.
Nevertheless, it was a great week and the whole of Basel and Switzerland were delighted with the young Bernese player’s leadership.
📸Credit: Swiss Indoors Basel / ATP. (Photos are protected by copyright and may not be used or copied)
There are various articles about Dominic in the world press. It’s best to browse the internet😃.
Vorschau SRF Wawrinka und Stricker SRF
Zusammenfassung SRF Stricker – Ruud
Nach dem Match gegen Ruud Platz Interview SRF
tele Basel zum Donnerstag Match von Dominic gegen Ruud mit Börni Schär