Jarkko Nieminen eases into last 16 at US Open

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Finland's tennis #1 Jarkko Nieminen has made it to the fourth round of the US Open, the season's final Grand Slam event, being played at Flushing Meadow in New York. In the 3rd round on Sunday, Nieminen overcame Maks Mirnyi of Belarus in a four-set match lasting just under two and a half hours.
      Nieminen took the first set 6-3 and won the second on the tie-break. Mirnyi, seeded No. 30 here and currently ranked 32nd in the world, came back in the third to win 6-3, but Nieminen remained strong and emerged victorious by taking the fourth set 6-3.
      The big-serving Mirnyi sent down an impressive 21 aces to Nieminen's 3 in the match, but was guilty of 43 unforced errors to only 17 by his opponent.
      It was Nieminen's first win over Mirnyi in three attempts.
     
The left-handed 24-year-old from Masku is now in uncharted waters, at least at this venue: his previous best performance at the US Open was to reach the 2nd Round in 2003. In the same year he made it to the last 16 at Roland Garros in Paris, but that was on the clay surface that he has normally found most to his liking.
      This is only the third time in the modern era that any Finnish player has progressed this far in a Grand Slam event. Veli Paloheimo reached the last 16 at the 1990 Australian Open. Way back in 1962, before the days of professional tennis, Reino Nyssönen also made the 4th Round in New York.
     
Nieminen opened his account at Flushing Meadow with a gritty five-set victory over Karol Beck of Slovakia, in which the Finn recovered from deep trouble and 0-4 and 2-5 in the final set to triumph 7-5. Beck is currently ranked 36th, 21 places above Nieminen.
      This win should by rights have set up an interesting - and daunting - encounter with 5th-seeded Marat Safin in the next round, but Safin was forced to withdraw at the last minute through injury, making room for lucky-loser Björn Phau of Germany.
      Phau beat his countryman Alexander Popp in the opening round, but Nieminen disposed of him in four sets, 6-2, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.
     
With the retirement of Safin and the first-round defeat of Britain's Tim Henman, the 12th seed, the bottom section of the top half of the tournament draw looks appreciably weaker, and in the final sixteen Nieminen will face Spain's Fernando Verdasco (ATP #48). The match will be played on Tuesday.
      The two have met once before, at Wimbledon in 2003, when Nieminen won in five sets. Verdasco and Nieminen are incidentally also the only two left-handed players left in the men's draw.
     
Though he is unseeded, Fernando Verdasco will provide a stern test: he was the man responsible for dumping out Tim Henman in the first round. In the third round, the Spaniard outlasted Novak Djokovic (Serbia-Montenegro) in a marathon 5-setter. Djokovic had in turn removed the No. 22 seed Mario Ancic of Croatia in the previous round, meaning that this part of the draw has now been completely cleaned out of seeded players.
      If Nieminen can progress, he is likely to face Lleyton Hewitt of Australia in the quarter-finals. Hewitt, who won this event in 2001 and was last year's beaten finalist, is seeded No.3.
     
Whatever happens on Tuesday, Nieminen has already done enough to improve his finances and ATP standings quite considerably. A 4th round berth at the US Open is worth 30 Champions Race points and USD 70,000 in prize money. His position in the ATP Entry List rankings is also sure to improve: this time last year he could do no better than the 1st round in New York.
      Equally important is the psychological boost: all too often in recent tournaments, Jarkko Nieminen has started matches in brilliant form only to stutter in the later stages. He has now come through three awkward games playing his best tennis at the end.


Links:
  US Open: Jarkko Nieminen

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