Home wild card Dominic Stricker seeks to shock 2022 Swiss Indoors runner-up Holger Rune in Thursday's second-round match.
The lefty stunned world No. 35 Tallon Griekspoor in Tuesday's first round and aims to advance to the last eight in Basel at the four-time ATP Tour champion's expense.
Match preview
© Imago
Few anticipated Stricker's 6-4, 6-4 victory against Griekspoor on Tuesday, especially after the Dutchman's recent run to the third round in Shanghai, where he came close to defeating Alexander Zverev in a close three-set battle and a recent positive tournament in Stockholm, where he exited against another top-10 player in Grigor Dimitrov in the semis.
A victory for the world No. 258 appeared implausible before the round-one match, but he had other ideas in the straight-set win over the two-time champion on Tour.
Stricker was a beneficiary of reeling off 14 aces and converting 50% of his four break points against the high-ranked opponent, who failed to punish the Swiss player despite engineering two break opportunities.
With the crowd on his side against Rune, the 22-year-old player will hope to turn in another admirable performance to surprise the fourth seed.
© Imago
The runner-up in Switzerland two years back will be wary of Stricker's threat, not only because of the expected partisan support but also after the home player's recent run to Stockholm, where he upset Matteo Berrettini in two sets before falling to Dimitrov in the last eight.
Knowing his opponent's competence against higher-ranked opponents, Rune's performance in round one's 6-4, 7-6(3) victory over Nicolas Jarry offers encouragement, even if four double faults were a negative.
Regardless, he prevented his opponent from conjuring a single break point in the tournament-opening victory and held his nerve in the second-set tie-break to seal passage into the last-16 match against the home player.
Having played in the title match two years back, the 21-year-old Dane is bidding for a deep run in Basel to give himself a chance of securing a first title of 2024 and his fifth ATP Tour success overall.
However, he cannot afford to look so far ahead and must be wary of his left-handed opponent, who will have most of the crowd in his corner in Thursday's last-16 match.
Tournament so far
Dominic Stricker:
First round: vs. Tallon Griekspoor 6-4 6-4
Holger Rune:
First round: vs. Nicolas Jarry 6-4, 7-6(3)
Head To Head
Thursday's match-up will be a battle of the unknowns, with both players facing off for the first time on the tour.
The Swiss player enters the second-round match on a 4-5 win-loss record in 2024, significantly surpassed by Rune's 38-21 record.
We say: Rune to win in two sets
Rune faces a potential banana skin on Thursday, given that three of Stricker's four Tour-level victories this year have come in the last fortnight. Nevertheless, the world No. 14 should have enough to avoid the fates that befell Berrettini in Sweden and Griekspoor in the opening round.
