Alpine clay, thin air, and a home crowd, Gstaad has a habit of producing weeks that look nothing like the rest of the calendar. The EFG Swiss Open is off and running, with top names Alexander Bublik and Casper Ruud both into the second round by bye, joined by Arthur Rinderknech and Valentin Vacherot in the early bye wave.
The result that will travel farthest from the Alps is Dominic Stricker's. The Swiss wildcard dismissed Jaume Munar 6-2, 6-4, a straight-sets statement against a player ranked well inside the top 50, and exactly the kind of home-soil spark Gstaad thrives on. Lorenzo Sonego also advanced, edging Joel Schwaerzler 6-4, 7-6(4).
Two other Round 1 ties went the distance. Raphael Collignon recovered to beat Timofey Skatov 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-4, Clement Tabur came through against Jurij Rodionov 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, and Miomir Kecmanovic outlasted Kilian Feldbausch 6-1, 1-6, 6-3.
Still on the board: Stefanos Tsitsipas against Ignacio Buse, Stan Wawrinka's opener with Jaime Faria, and several other unfinished Round 1 matches that will decide who actually meets Bublik and Ruud later in the week. The top of the draw is settled for now, the middle is where Stricker has already punched a hole.
For TennisDraw users, mark Bublik and Ruud through, give Stricker a serious look in that section of the bracket, and wait on Tsitsipas and Wawrinka before treating the rest of Gstaad as locked.
