ATP Basel: An ode to the Wednesday game schedule
There was a lot on offer at Center Court in Basel on Wednesday: a curiosity, a number one and two local heroes. A game plan can hardly be much better.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit:
Oct 27, 2022, 12:17 pm
A task that often takes a back seat in the tennis circus is that of creating a game plan. To a certain extent, this determines how the story of a game day at a tennis tournament looks like. Which is of course primarily relevant for the viewers present, but is often not really noticed by those who only follow selected matches via stream or on TV.
A prime example of such a story is that of Wednesday at the ATP 500 event in Basel. On this third day of the game in the main field, there was a scenario that is quite rare on the ATP tour: namely that three tournament winners from the previous week started in a row. But that was the case in Basel with Holger Rune, Lorenzo Musetti and Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Rune submits, Musetti falls down
The performance balance is quite different. For his part, Holger Rune showed right from the start that he can be much more aggressive from the baseline than his opponent Alex de Minaur. A short phase of weakness in the second section changed little or nothing about that. Because the Dane won 6: 2 and 7: 5. Spicy detail: Rune and de Minaur only faced each other on Saturday in the semifinals in Stockholm.
Lorenzo Musetti, who won an all-Italian final against Matteo Berrettini last Sunday in Florence, on the other hand, the hardships of the last few days were clearly visible. Already in the middle of the first set, the youngster asked the physio to come out on the field. The Italian played such great tennis there that the break in treatment could not have changed the 6-1 set win.
Musetti runs out of breath
That should gradually change in the second section. Because Albert Ramos Vinolas was getting better and better at the match and was getting on the nerve of the 20-year-old with the classic Spanish safe baseline game, it suddenly became tight for Musetti. So tight that a weak service game towards the end of the set even caused the Italian to lose it.
In the third section it was a huge break for Musetti. At a score of 4: 1 with the chance to make everything clear with the double break, suddenly nothing went together at the world number 23. Which was ultimately equivalent to an opening defeat in Basel that was at least as surprising as it was bitter. Incidentally, the majority of the audience was behind the man with the beautiful one-handed backhand.
Auger-Aliassime impeccable
The final act in the tournament winners' play starred Felix Auger-Aliassime. The Canadian lived up to his role as favorite at the weekend in Antwerp. And had been drawn with local hero Marc-Andrea Hüsler in Basel a difficult opening hurdle. Especially since Stan Wawrinka and Dominic Stricker were able to surpass themselves on Tuesday in front of a home crowd.
Hüsler, who himself had won the ATP tournament for the first time a few weeks ago, almost succeeded in surprising himself. The Swiss delivered a tough fight to Felix Auger-Aliassime, won the first round, but then had to accept the decisive break at the end of the third section. The Canadian is now up against Miomir Kecmanovic from Serbia.
Great program on Wednesday
The densely packed, special and quite attractive program on Wednesday should also make up for the fact that the Swiss Indoors are taking place for the first time this year since Roger Federer's resignation. The man from Basel, himself a ten-time champion on the longstanding private stage, is of course the main absentee in Switzerland these October days. A challenge that of course does not necessarily make the creation of the game plan easier.
In Basel, however, this was done with flying colors on Wednesday. Because the fact that, in addition to the tournament-winning trio, there were also second-round matches between Carlos Alcaraz and local hero Dominic Stricker, it wasn't even mentioned at the beginning. But guarantees great tennis - and a similarly high-quality atmosphere. Which of course are the two central criteria for success when attending a tournament for the spectators present. And what causes the author of these lines to massively question his own travel planning. Because he had to start his journey home after the second single.