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Second seed Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia beat Dominic Stephan Stricker of Switzerland 7-6 (4), 6-1 in the second round of the Swiss Open in Gstaad on Wednesday, July 19. The battle between two youngsters lasted for an hour and 23 minutes, with the Serb proving to be the superior player in the end.
Kecmanovic will take on Zizou Bergs of Belgium in the quarterfinal on Friday, July 21. The Serb remains one of the favourites to win the tournament. However, Bergs has been impressive of late and is capable of making it a close fight.
On that note, let us take a look at two things that stood out in Miomir Kecmanovic's Round of 16 win agains Stricker:
#1. Dominic Stephan Stricker tried to dominate with his forehand:
The Swiss southpaw’s crosscourt forehand was directed at Kecmanovic’s backhand and he tried to pound the Serb’s backhand repeatedly. Stricker played a lot of shots towards Kecmanovic’s backhand before rushing the net to finish points with volleys. The Serb, meanwhile, primarily stayed on the baseline and relied on his solid and clinical shotmaking to fend off the Swiss.
Kecmanovic broke Stricker in the ninth game of the first set to lead 5-4, but the 20-year-old broke back in the subsequent game. The set then went into a tie-break that the Serb managed to win quite easily.
#2. Miomir Kecmanovic held his own with his backhand in the second set:
Kecmanovic fared better with his backhand in the second set that rendered Stricker’s tactic of targeting it quite ineffective. The 23-year-old Serb hit a few wonderful down-the-line backhand winners and also managed to win points with passing shots on a few occasions.
Kecmanovic broke Stricker twice in the second set and never lost his serve in it to win convincingly in the end. Stricker’s very poor first serve ratio of 44% in the match also contributed to his downfall. The Swiss was able to win only 45% of the points on his second serve, rounding out his below-par performance in the second set.
Miomir Kecmanovic, meanwhile, managed to convert three of the eight break point opportunities that came his way and lost his serve only once during the match. It was a clinical performance from the Serb, who remains firmly in contention to win the tournament. Bergs is an exciting young player, but might find it difficult to go past Kecmanovic in the quarterfinal on Friday.
