Dominic Stricker, the revelation of the 2022 Next Gen Finals so far, defeats Musetti in five sets to qualify for semis

There’s still one more day of round-robin play left at the 2022 Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, but Switzerland’s Dominic Stricker won’t be feeling the pressure. The talented 20-year-old notched another impressive victory on Wednesday, 4-3(5), 4-6(6), 3-4(7), 3-4(6), 4-3(3) over Lorenzo Musetti to qualify for the semi-finals on his debut.

Every set Stricker has played in Milan has ended in a tiebreak, and even though he dropped two today against the world No 23, he was able to recover and close out his fifth top-50 win of the season. Remarkably, Stricker now owns an 8-3 record against the ATP’s top-50.

“Five tiebreaks, both players serve very well, but I’m I’m super happy that I could step up the game a bit in the fifth set tiebreak,” Stricker said. “I had a match point in the third set, it was not easy – Lorenzo played a great match, we both served unbelievable.”

Things turned for Musetti when he saved a match point in the third-set tiebreak. He then took the fourth, also in a close breaker, but could not hang with the hard-hitting southpaw in the fifth set breaker. Stricker, who defeated Jack Draper in his first match in Milan, rode out to a 6-2 lead and converted his third match point to close out the win.

Stricker hit 20 aces and won 75 percent of his first serve points against Musetti, who hit nine aces and also won 75 percent of his first serve points.

There were just two breaks of serve in the match, one for each player.

It was a good victory for the promising Swiss, even if it took longer than expected.

“It’s not easy. You’re sitting on a bench with [a 2-1 lead in sets], but you’re like, ‘Yeah, I could have already taken a shower.’ But it was a great match, I kept my focus and I’m very happy to be the winner of this match.”

Musetti drops to 1-1 on the week. He will face Jack Draper on Thursday as he continues his quest to reach the semi-finals.

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Dominic Stricker serves his way past Jack Draper in three tiebreaks at Next Gen Finals in Milan

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