Finland's tennis No.1 Jarkko Nieminen was knocked out of the French Open in the second round, but he chose not to sit on his hands for the second week of the event. Instead he signed up for an ATP Challenger series tournament in the Czech Republic - and he went on to win it.
Nieminen enjoyed a 6-1, 6-3 straight sets victory in Sunday's final over Czech Ivo Minar . Neither player was among those seeded for the tournament.
Nieminen collected USD 18,000 in prize money, rather less than he won for making it past Andre Agassi in the first round in Paris. He has now won seven Challenger events, but is still waiting for his first victory on the full ATP Tour, despite four appearances as a finalist.
Nieminen will not be taking part in the traditional pre-Wimbledon tournament on the grass of Queens' Club in London this week. He is returning instead to Finland.
There is a sound reason for his decision to skip the Wimbledon warm-up: Nieminen is to marry his fiancée Anu Weckström at the end of this week.
