Good and bad news for Jarkko Nieminen

Jarkko Nieminen

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Monday got off to a bright start for Finland's tennis No. 1 Jarkko Nieminen, but thereafter it went downhill rather quickly.
      The morning saw the release of the latest set of ATP entry list rankings, and Nieminen climbed a further two places to reach No. 20 in the world. This is his all-time best and is also naturally the highest a Finnish player has ever reached.
      Nieminen did not actually have to play any professional singles tennis to improve his standing: he was on duty for Finland in the Davis Cup victory against Ireland just over a week ago, and did not take part in any other tournaments last week. However, the points that determine the rankings are based on the previous 12 months' matches, and some of his colleagues lost enough points from last year to propel Nieminen upwards.
     
In the afternoon, he had a first-round match in the Monte Carlo Masters tournament, facing Belgium's Kristof Vliegen.
      Nieminen raced through the first set to win 6-1, but the Belgian, ranked 57th in the world, was not giving up without a struggle, and he broke Nieminen in the second set to win it 6-4. The third set went all the way to the tie-break, and Vliegen eventually dumped out the Finn, who was seeded 14th for the tournament, winning 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) in just over two hours.
      The match was played on clay, which has previously been a surface Nieminen enjoys. Defeat in the first round here is unlikely to improve his chances of remaining very long in the top 20.


Links:
  ATP Tennis: Jarkko Nieminen

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