Jarkko Nieminen opens season with runner-up spot in Adelaide

Eigfhth ATP final appearance brings seventh defeat

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Finland’s tennis No.1 Jarkko Nieminen seems to have suffered no ill-effects from his brief spell in army uniform, doing a speeded-up stint of national service.
      He took part in his first ATP tournament of the new season in Adelaide last week, and progressed through to the final, where he was eventually beaten fairly comfortably by Michael Llodra of France.
      Nieminen, seeded third in the tournament, breezed through two rounds before edging a lengthy quarter-final battle against Vincent Spadea of the USA that went to three tie-breaks, and he then dismissed sixth-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who himself upset top seed Lleyton Hewitt in the quarters.
     
The unseeded Llodra was nevertheless too good for Nieminen in the battle of the left-handers, and he broke the Finn twice to win 6-3, 6-4.
      Llodra, who was ranked 93rd before this tournament, leapt 39 places in the world rankings, while Nieminen moved up more modestly from 27th to 26th while collecting his runner-up’s cheque for around USD 40,000.
     
Nieminen will now go on to Auckland, the site of the only ATP tournament he has thus far won. He triumphed there in 2006, but crashed out in the opening round a year ago, despite being seeded 4th.
      Nieminen has not been overly successful at converting finals places into tour victories. Sunday’s defeat was his seventh in eight final appearances since he broke onto the international tennis scene by reaching the final of the Stockholm Open in 2001.
     
Nevertheless, the 26-year-old infantryman conscript (he is still technically in the Finnish Defence Forces until the end of March) can be well pleased with getting the maximum number of games under his belt in Adelaide, which - along with Auckland - serves as a warm-up event for the year’s first Grand Slam, the Australian Open.
      This event begins in Melbourne on January 4th, and Nieminen will be among the 32 seeded players in the men’s singles.
      He will be wanting to improve on his 2007 showing, when he went out in the second round to Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina in the 2nd Round.
      Before then, however, Nieminen has to negotiate an awkward first round appearance at the Heineken Open in Auckland against Belgian Xavier Malisse, a dangerous "floater" in the draw, who is making a strong comeback after an injury layoff and is unseeded despite having won two ATP events last year. The two men have met twice previously, with one win apiece.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Nieminen´s tour of duty (4.12.2007)
  Tennis ace Jarkko Nieminen enters military service (6.11.2007)

Links:
  Jarkko Nieminen (ATP profile)

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