For Dominic Stricker, the home clay tournament in Gstaad is an excellent opportunity to reassert himself in front of the local crowd after a prolonged spell of injury problems. However, he has been unlucky with the opening draw: he will face the eighth seed Jaume Munar, who feels comfortable on clay.
Dominic Stricker
Dominic Stricker has recently been playing exclusively on clay, collecting 10 wins in 17 matches since April. The numbers look decent, but a closer look is less impressive: the vast majority of those results have come at modest Futures events and in Challenger qualifying against players ranked in the third and fourth hundreds. The Swiss left-hander likes to attack with flat shots, but in the sticky conditions of slow clay he badly lacks patience in long rallies. His physical condition is also a concern: just a week and a half ago in Troyes, he retired mid-match because of another injury.
Jaume Munar
Jaume Munar is a clay-court specialist, having played 524 matches on this surface in his career. He maintains depth brilliantly with heavy topspin, moves superbly along the baseline and knows how to wear down attacking opponents with drop shots. It is true that this season Munar has a negative clay record (4-6), but the calibre of his opponents has been higher. His notable results include wins over Navone and Shevchenko, as well as sets taken off Arnaldi, Hurkacz and Vallejo from inside the top 100.
Dominic Stricker vs Jaume Munar Prediction
It will be difficult for Dominic Stricker to hit through Jaume Munar’s deep defence on the slow courts in Gstaad. Munar should absorb his initial attacking aggression, drag him into long rallies and force him into errors. Given Stricker’s recent retirement because of fitness problems, Munar looks well placed to progress comfortably to the next round.
