Stricker finishes group play undefeated at Next Gen Finals, will face Lehecka in semis

Dominic Stricker completed group play undefeated and will face Jiri Lehecka for a spot in the finals at the Next Gen Finals in Milan.

Dominic Stricker US Open 2023 Dominic Stricker US Open 2023 Shutterstock/SIPA

Dominic Stricker continues to run the table in Milan. The 111-ranked Swiss eased past Chun-Hsin Tseng on Thurdsay, 4-2, 4-1, 4-2, to improve to 3-0 this week at the Next Gen Finals.

The 20-year-old, seeded seventh, will face Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic for a spot in the final on Friday.

He defeated Jack Draper and Lorenzo Musetti in his first two matches at Milan.

Stricker pumped in six aces and saved four of five break points to win in just over 56 minutes. He lost just five first serve points, and broke serve four times from seven opportunities to drop Tseng to 0-3 on the week.

“I think my serve again was very good today. It helped me a lot,” Stricker said. “My forehand was working great, and I took his second-serve pretty early. I’m supper happy. He’s such a great player. He’s never losing the baseline and he’s such a such a great mover.”

Stricker admitted it was tough to focus on today’s match, given that he had already qualified for the semis, but now that he’s through, he can focus on Lehecka, who defeated Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi 4-3(5), 4-1, 4-3(4) to reach the semis on Thursday.

“It was not easy for me to go on here and play my best again because mentally of course you’re already thinking a bit more of tomorrow, of the semis,” he said. “But I think they handled it very, very well, and I now I can think all about tomorrow.”

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